RWBY: Legends of the Ghost Rider
by Legion of Two
Summary: Eighteen year old Johnny Blaze becomes the Ghost Rider once again. With the help of his friends Sara, Wolff, RWBY and JNPR he fights demons, ghosts, and the more mystical monsters that Remnant has to offer. A deal with the devil made a spirit use his body as its own walking weapon, now they must work together to keep the world safe from the dark forces that conspire against it.
1. Prologue 1: School Days

Hello, we should probably explain why we wrote this bizarre pairing of RWBY and the spirit of vengeance himself. We like Ghost Rider, the movies are meh, but the character himself is fantastic and we felt that he could fit in this universe now since the show itself is delving more into the mystical aspect of their reality. Also, there's only a small few stories of RWBY and Ghost Rider that we felt like adding our own spin on it.

Now, to answer some questions that we'd probably be asked

 **Are you going to do Johnny Blaze?** Yes, he is the main character in our story. Because he's the most iconic Rider and his name fits the shows color rule already, so we lucked out there.

 **Are you going to take inspiration from the movies and TV shows?** Yes, but in a small capacity. Certain story elements and designs will be implemented in our story, but not to the degree of the movies we got (they're pretty bad). We will of course be adapting elements from the comic books since that's where the real history and villains of the Ghost Rider exists.

 **Are you going to use any of the other Ghost Riders like Carter Slade, Danny Ketch, Alejandra Jones, and Robbie Reyes?** More than likely, yes. We have plans for Carter Slade and implement his history as both the Ghost Rider and the Phantom Rider in our story. The others will be included as well, we may have to add an extra name in their own to coincide with the color rule or maybe we'll leave it alone. That decision is up in the air right now.

 **Will you have villains from the comic books that haven't appeared in the movies?** Yes, of course. We have plans for the characters Vengeance, Marvel's Scarecrow (not DC's/Batman Scarecrow), Wallow, Jack O' Lantern, Reverend Styge, Bounty Hunter, and more.

 **How involved are the character's from RWBY?** Very involved. They help make Johnny Blaze into the character that you will read about as well as help with some of the mystical villains that they come across. They won't have a big involvement in our San Venganza arc however due to the events of volume 3, but they are in there and will have a much larger involvement afterwards.

 **Will other Marvel characters appear in your story?** No. This story is purely Ghost Rider driven and will focus on the characters from the Ghost Rider comics.

 **Will any of the RWBY characters become Riders, gain any mystical powers, or become versions of Ghost Rider allies and villains from Ghost Rider lore?** Maybe...you'll have to wait and see ;)

We hope that answered any questions and concerns you may have and we hope that you enjoy our story. Thank you.

* * *

 _I always thought that life would be a little hectic but it would go in the direction you set out towards. You'd hit a few bumps, get dealt some heavy blows, but overall you'd be happy living your life and caring for the ones you love. Of course in my life, nothing would ever go as planned. These past three years have been hell for me. Like literally hell, that's just a little in-joke for me, but I'll explain that later. My name is Johnny Blaze, and I used to be the Ghost Rider._

* * *

(Two weeks before Forever Fall field trip)

Teams RWBY and JNPR were walking together through the Beacon grounds. Some were in conversation while the others were too focused on other things. They stopped and found a spot on the grass to sit and relax. Ruby was talking about what they could all do next on that Friday morning. While they all talked amongst themselves about their suggestions, Ruby looked over to a young man working on the lawn. He was in blue custodian coveralls, brown work boots, and gloves for gardening. She hadn't noticed him before but she figured it was a big school so that might have been the reason they hadn't seen each other.

They all turned their attention to the familiar and annoying boisterous laughter coming from the group sat on the stone bench behind the custodian, it was team CRDL. Laughing about whatever victim they had come across that day, no doubt.

"Remember the look on her face when I pulled those ears? She looked like she was gonna cry." Cardin laughed soon after he said that, reminiscing on Cardin's bullying of Velvet in the dining hall.

"Man, I thought she was gonna cry like a big baby." Cardin added, and then they all laughed together.

The group on the grass of course was angry, they didn't tolerate that kind of horrific behavior and the memory of the incident didn't help either.

"Coming from the guy that looks like a big baby." Said the custodian.

CRDL stopped laughing and turned their attention towards the man placing new patches of grass on the lawn. Teams RWBY and JNPR all tried to hold back their laughter.

"I'm sorry, you wanna say that again?" Cardin said with agitation in his voice.

"I think you heard me well enough." The custodian smiled as he said that, obviously enjoying the feelings of anger he was stirring in them.

Cardin got up with his mace and walked onto the grass over to the stranger. Said stranger just rolled his eyes at the supposedly intimidating display of bravado. Cardin knelt down real close next to him as he kept working. Teams RWBY and JNPR were nervous but ready in case Cardin or the others decided to try anything.

"You've got quite the mouth."

"And you've got quite the breath, god! What do you use as toothpaste, raw sewage?" Cardin cringed at this while the RY of RWBY and JNP of JNPR quietly laughed.

Cardin stood up and looked at the gardening tools and green bag next to the gardener. Looking more closely at the bag he noticed black metal chains inside.

"Hmm, what are these for?" He asked as he lightly kicked the bag letting some of the chain spill out.

"Gardening." He said while placing another square patch of grass on the dirt.

"Ain't no gardening tool I ever seen."

"You don't seem like the kinda guy who'd be into gardening."

"Well, gardening can be quite hard work. Especially when something unexpected just falls out of nowhere to ruin all that work." Cardin then brought down his mace onto the patch of lawn next to the custodian, kicking up the grass and dirt underneath.

Cardin smiled as the man stopped working and looked at the mace in utter disdain. The custodian grabbed the chain and threw the heavy end into Cardin's stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He then wrapped the chain around his neck and threw him up against the nearby stone pillar between the lawn and the stone path. The rest of CRDL drew their weapons, while RWBY and JNPR were ready with theirs.

"I'm only gonna say this once." The custodian said. He then moved his face closer to Cardin's.

"KEEP. OFF. THE GRASS." He then removed the chains from around Cardin's neck and pushed him aside.

Cardin angrily went to pick up his mace. As soon as he touched the handle, his hand was then wrapped in the same chain he was released from.

"Don't even think about swinging that at me. I don't think I have to tell you about the penalties of students attacking faculty members, do I?" After saying that, he unwrapped the chain from around Cardin's hand. CRDL all left without saying a word.

RWBY and JNPR, as well as the other students who were watching, were in awe at the display. The man immediately went to work on the patch Cardin had ruined. Both teams walked over to him, and once he noticed, he stood back up to greet them.

"THAT was awesome." Yang said.

"Thanks. In case you haven't already noticed, I don't like bullies." He said with a smile.

"I don't think anybody does." Pyrrha said with an equally bright smile. The stranger chuckled at that.

"I don't think we've met each other. I'm Ruby and this is Weiss, Blake, and Yang. Together we're team RWBY." She finished with her hands placed on her hips in a heroic pose.

"Charmed." He said, chuckling at the display. "You guys?" He asked directing his attention towards the others.

"I'm Pyrrha Nikos. This is Nora, Ren, and this is our team leader Jaune. Together we're team JNPR. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr.…?"

"Blaze. Johnny Blaze. Beacon custodian, gardener, and ex-motorcycle stunt performer."

"Stunt performer?" Blake asked "Not something I'd picture you as."

"Well, appearances aren't everything. Especially in this place." He gestured his hands to the school around them.

"So what kind of stunt performer ends up working as a school janitor, and picks fights with students with nothing more than chains and gardening tools?" Yang asked.

"One who wanted some form of stability in his life. It's not perfect but I like it." Johnny said. He then began to laugh.

"Man, I never thought I'd want a quiet life at eighteen."

"You're eighteen?" Blake asked. Johnny nodded in affirmation.

"Then why are you a janitor if you could be going to school here? After what we saw, you can definitely handle yourself with those." Yang gestured toward the bag of chains.

"True, but it's not the life I wanted. When you've seen and been through enough violence, sometimes you'd want to stop. Although, I doubt that'll be the case for you guys." Johnny finished with a smile.

Johnny's scroll beeped. He opened it and switched off the timer; he packed up his things and made to leave but turned towards the group. He then handed Ruby and Jaune a card each from his pocket.

"If you guys ever need me, don't hesitate to call. If you need your dorms repainted, a sink fixed, a nice shady spot on the grass, or if you want to talk I'm here." Johnny finished with a smile to which they all returned in kind.

"I thought you said we weren't allowed on the grass." Weiss said.

"Those big lug heads aren't allowed on the grass. You guys however are welcome to have a picnic on it if you ever feel like it. Unlike the teachers here, I'm allowed to have favorites." Johnny said gesturing to the group.

"Gotta run, I'll see you guys around the school." Johnny waved as they all bid their goodbyes.

* * *

Johnny never would have thought that he would be free of the torment. He never thought he would talk to anyone without risking their safety or even make friends. But he was free now, free to live his life the way he wanted it, without the fear of the darkness within him.

As he entered the closet to put away his tools, he stopped and pulled out his necklace. It was a rectangular orange colored gem that had the frozen image of a skeleton trying to claw its way out. Johnny smiled at it, knowing that the spirit that once controlled his life could no longer torment him. He put everything back, grabbed his cart, and went back to work.


	2. Prologue 2: Story Time

(One week before the battle at the docks)

Blake was in the dorm reading a book. Ruby had just walked in while the others were out either studying or doing whatever Yang and Weiss felt like doing. Blake looked up from her book briefly to the familiar sound of a cart being wheeled around by a certain custodian.

"Heyo! You guys got trash?" Johnny asked.

"Nope. Thanks Johnny." Ruby said cheerfully.

As Johnny made to leave he noticed Blake reading her book. Her eyes were locked on the pages. Skimming through the words intently, entranced by the sentences they formed.

"What's your book about if you don't mind me asking?" Johnny asked.

"Huh?" Blake asked looking up from the book. Johnny nodded towards the book.

"Oh, it's about a man with two souls. They both fight for control of his body, it's a good read. I'm just re-reading it." She said.

"Mm, I've read that one. You know the book itself is actually based on a really old story." Johnny said as he picked up a discarded candy wrapper from the floor in the hallway.

"Really? What story?" Blake asked.

Johnny entered the room and leaned back against the wall next to the door.

"Well. It's not for the faint of heart." Johnny said with an expression that was almost somber, but hidden under a light hearted tone. Something that did not go unnoticed by Ruby and Blake.

"The book in your hand is based on the legend of the Ghost Rider. It's said that every generation has one. The devil visits someone who's either evil enough, stupid enough, or desperate enough to make a deal. The deal is simple: whatever the person wanted most in the world in exchange for their soul. Once the deal was made he would bestow into that person an ancient spirit that, when at night in the presence of evil, would come out and exact its vengeance on anyone that it deemed guilty. They would become the devil's bounty hunter, hunting down the ghosts and ghouls who would work against the dark jerk face himself and/or cause havoc for the lives of everyone on Remnant. The spirit would use the person's body to destroy anyone that it saw as evil. The person, if they had a conscience, would want to ensure that the spirit would never do those horrible things ever again. The conflict of two souls in one body. This legend is almost as old as mankind's time in this world; it's usually used as a cautionary tale, the moral being: make sure the darkness within you doesn't control you." Johnny finished.

Blake and Ruby were listening intently the entire time, intrigued with the story of devil's and spirits. The people of Remnant have seen and can do very extraordinary things. Things such as their auras and semblances which range from super speed, control over metal, and other incredible abilities. But never have they experienced anything in terms of the mystical. The peoples of the past certainly have: The Four Maidens, Ghost Riders, and anything in between. But with the passing of time, they all fell into legend and became nothing more than stories.

"Now you know the history behind your book, I hope it was educational." Johnny said with a smile as he made his way back to his cart.

"Very, it's quite the story." Blake said.

"Yeah, it was really cool. Kinda scary though." Ruby added.

"It's just a story Ruby, don't worry about it." Blake said smiling at Ruby who returned said smile with her own.

"I wish that was all it was." Johnny whispered to himself.

"I'm sorry?" Blake asked.

"Oh nothing, I was just saying bye." Johnny said trying to shake off his somberness.

"Bye Johnny! See you later." Ruby said waving him goodbye with Blake.

* * *

As he made it to the end of the hallway, he stopped. He brought his necklace up to look at the skeletal spirit frozen within.

"You made two girls smile, not something I'd ever picture YOU being able to do." Johnny said, finishing with a smile.

"Right then, back to work." He said as he started making his way to his next chore.


	3. Prologue 3: Ruby Finds the Truth

(Five hours after the RWBY/JNPR food fight)

RWBY had since changed out of their food and soda stained uniforms and into their pajamas. Weiss was at her desk studying, Blake was on her bed, Yang was making her way to her bunk, and Ruby was in the bathroom. As Yang was about to hop into bed, she noticed Ruby's open scroll on her bed. She would have paid it no mind but then it buzzed as the image of Jaune popped up, making her all the more curious. She picked it up to see if it was anything on the lines of romantic, which she hoped it wasn't seeing as how he was trying to "woo" Weiss currently. To her relief it wasn't but it was definitely an odd message.

 **[Jaune Arc]** ** _Took me a while but I found it. I'll send you the link._**

Below the words was an attachment waiting to be opened.

 **[Jaune Arc]** ** _I'm still a little surprised you asked me to find it. I'm glad to help out but looking up urban legends and ghost stories isn't exactly what I'm known for._**

Definitely intrigued now, Yang noticed that one of the folder tabs on Ruby's scroll had a warning displayed next to it. ATTENTION: Folder Full.

Yang opened it and was more confused when she read what was displayed. Excerpts from old ghost stories, news articles about strange sightings, strange deaths, and pictures of drawings and illustrations of skeletal figures engulfed in flames. One was a painting of a flamed rider on horseback dated almost 80 years old, their time, heading into battle during the Great War with a flaming rifle in hand. Another was a stencil illustration of a knight in armor engulfed in flames battling a flying gargoyle like creature with a flaming sword outside of the kingdom of Mistral under construction, and one of a cave painting made by early man of a person surrounded by flames holding what looked to be a flaming club.

The last image she looked at was a graffiti illustration made in Vacuo dated two years ago of an intense image. A skull engulfed in flames and burning eyes looking angrily towards those who would pass it. Underneath was the message: **_Penance comes not by law, but by fire._**

She would have kept reading if Ruby had not walked back into the room to see Yang looking through her scroll without permission.

"Hey! Is that my scroll?" Ruby asked agitatedly.

"Oh, busted." Yang said dejectedly.

"Busted is right! Give it back, Yang!" Ruby said holding her hand out.

"Ruby, what are you doing looking up all this stuff?" Yang asked pointing to the scroll.

"It's nothing, Johnny just told me and Blake a really cool story and I wanted to look some stuff up." Ruby said agitatedly with crossed arms.

"What story?" Yang asked with a mixture of curiosity and anger in her voice, worried about what he said to them.

"It was a story about something called the Ghost Strider."

"Ghost Rider." Blake corrected from her bunk.

"Oh. Well that explains why I didn't get more results when I typed it in" Ruby said.

"Ruby!" Yang sighed after getting her attention. "Have you had any nightmares after you looked all this stuff up?"

"Not a lot…just one or two…hehe." Ruby said.

"Ruby…" Yang said with a deadpanned face.

"Ok, I've had nightmares for the past two weeks since I started looking into it." Ruby said looking down and away from Yang's face. Yang let out a frustrated groan before speaking.

"This is why we don't watch scary movies."

"Well, it's her fault that she's having them in the first place. I was also under the impression that we didn't keep secrets from each other." Weiss said.

"I wasn't under the impression that personal hobbies affected the overall performance of the team." Blake said, slightly irritating Weiss.

"Look, I was just looking up ghost stories. It wasn't like I came into millions of Lien and didn't tell you." Ruby said.

"Did you?" Yang asked jokingly. Ruby snatched her scroll from Yang's hand and stormed out, but spoke before closing the door.

"Maybe." Ruby then shut the door and walked out of the building, she needed a calm place to think.

* * *

Ruby walked towards Johnny's house for some peace of mind. His house had a living space upstairs and the downstairs was the garage. She had messaged him before arriving and he waited for her in the garage which was open. She sat down on the wooden stool and explained what happened while he worked on his motorcycle (It was a Remnant equivalent to an Earth VMAX model motorcycle).

"Pass me that rag." Johnny asked pointing to a rag on the table behind Ruby.

"Here you go."

"Thaaank you." He said ending the last part sharply.

Ruby had been to the garage before with Yang, but she had just sat in the same stool while Yang and Johnny talked about their respective motorcycles. She was just as bored as she was then, but she had the calm peace of mind she wanted.

"So you used to be a stunt guy?" Ruby asked.

"More like stunt kid, but yeah. My dad was in charge of the motor stunts in the fair we traveled with and when I was twelve he built me a bike from scratch, taught me how to ride, and made me one of the performers."

"You were a performer since you were twelve?"

"Up until I was fifteen. My uh…my dad passed away and we couldn't keep the show running without him." Johnny finished with sadness in his voice.

"What about your mom? Couldn't she have helped?"

"She died when I was ten. My dad made me part of the show as a way to be closer to each other."

"I'm sorry. I lost my mom when I was young too." Ruby said.

"Sorry to hear that. Anyway, afterwards I just wandered around for a while, went wherever the road took me I guess, and finally I decided to stop. I came to Vale and asked Ozpin for a job."

"A job cleaning the school?"

"There aren't a lot of jobs for ex-stunt men who didn't finish school or have any other jobs besides riding bikes for a living." Johnny said.

"It's good work though, and I get affordable housing on the premises so it worked out in the end."

"Well, I'm glad it did." Ruby said with a smile.

"I'm still mad that you guys made a mess in the dining hall." Johnny said in an irritated tone.

"Sorry, but at least Glynda fixed it up." Ruby ended the last part cheerfully.

"Glynda fixed up the tables and pillars yes, but I still had to clean up the food from the floor and the soda stuff or whatever you impaled JNPR with off the wall."

"Would it help if I said sorry again?" She asked while scratching the back of her head.

"…..Maybe." Johnny said. Johnny then tossed away the rag and started to head upstairs.

"I'll get us some water."

"Ok." Ruby said.

Ruby got up and looked at the bike. It was dark all over, even the shiny bits had a tint of a blackish-grey color to them. She walked around to the back of the bike and looked at the license plate. She looked more closely at it, it read **GST-572**. She knew where she had seen the numbers before, on a video sent to her on her scroll. She opened the link Jaune sent to her and rewatched the video.

The video showed a wall of fire in front of the lens, making it hard to see beyond it. It was recorded on a bystander's scroll and they had recorded a figure with a flaming head getting on a bike with flaming wheels and riding off from a burning vehicle with a White Fang logo painted on it. She paused the video and zoomed in on the license plate. The plate was the same as the one on Johnny's bike. Her eyes went wide from the realization, and she was too distracted to notice Johnny standing a few feet in front of her.

"That video went viral from what I recall." Johnny said placing the water bottles down on the table. Ruby was cautious and a little frightened by his presence.

"Bit of advice: when you're watching a video that might incriminate someone, make sure they can't see it on the other side of your scroll." Ruby then noticed that, with all scrolls, what was displayed is viewable from the back albeit reversed. He knew what she zoomed in on.

"What do you plan to do?" Ruby asked ready to run in case he made a move.

"Drink my water and explain myself to you. That is if you're willing to hear me out, although I'd rather we talk upstairs so that no one who might be wandering can hear. Don't want to incriminate myself and then go to prison. I like having my job and my freedom, thank you." Johnny said.

Ruby was cautious at this point. She did not want to be alone with him, especially without her weapon.

"How do I know you won't try to hurt me?" Ruby asked, still keeping her distance.

"I guess you don't. But I promise you, as your friend, I will NOT hurt you. I just want to tell you my side of the story, that's all."

Ruby was still suspicious, but she went with him upstairs with her scroll clutched tightly in case she needed to call her team right away. Once inside, he sat down in a chair that was opposite the couch that Ruby sat in.

"I told you about the Ghost Rider, which was a stupid idea now that I think about it, but I didn't tell you what the Rider was or how it related to me. I am only telling you this because you're my friend and I trust you to keep this a secret, and never tell another living soul. Even your own team." Johnny said, receiving a nod from Ruby. He took a deep breath and began his story.

"Zarathos…was an angel. A spirit of justice sent to protect the world of men. But he was tricked, captured, brought down to hell. He was corrupted. Tortured. Driven insane." He looked at Ruby to see the expression on her face was a mixture of awe and bewilderment.

"His mission to protect the innocent was perverted into a lust to punish the guilty. He became…the spirit of vengeance. Or at least that's what the monks told me." Johnny said, causing Ruby to be even more confused.

"Now, this is where I come in. When I was fourteen my dad was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, and as you could guess, we couldn't afford the treatment. Until one night as I was walking down the road with a bag full of pain killers for my dad, a man wearing a dark red suit under a big black coat stops me. He looked right into my eyes, I couldn't even say anything I was so scared. Then…then he started talking." Johnny began to think back to that dark and stormy night.

* * *

(Vacuo, four years ago)

"Shame to hear about your father, it's uh…tragic to be diagnosed while still young." The man said without shedding any form of genuine remorse.

"Wha…h-how do you know about that?" Young Johnny asked.

"I know a lot of things Johnny. I know your mother died when you were ten. I know that you hate feeling powerless against your father's cancer, I mean I thought your hand was gonna start bleeding with that death grip on that bag of meds you're carrying." The man said with a smile.

"Then of course…I know that you hate the rain." Johnny really did hate the rain. He was cold, wet, and still had a while to walk before he made it home.

"That's why, if you look, you'll see I solved that last problem for you." He finished.

When Johnny looked around them, he could hardly believe what he was seeing. He could hear the rain coming down around them while they talked but he hadn't noticed that not one drop had landed on them since they ran into each other. The rain was landing around where they were as if there was a large invisible umbrella above them.

"What…what is this? Who are you?" Johnny asked slightly afraid.

"I am an interested outside party. I can solve your little problem," He pointed his cane towards the bag in Johnny's hand. "In exchange for something else." The man finished.

Johnny knew that all of this, whatever it was, was dark and dangerous. He knew that this man or whatever he was would ask for something personal from him, or ask him to do something horrible. But his father had no other options, no lien, no cure, and no hope. So, he gave in.

"What do you want from me?" Johnny asked sternly.

"Simple, I'll make you a deal. I'll cure your father of his cancer and in return….I'll take your soul." He said. He then took out what appeared to be an aged and ancient piece of paper from his inside pocket, unrolled it, and held it out to Johnny.

"All you'll need to do, should you accept, is sign." He said pointing towards the signature line.

Johnny took a deep breath and dropped the bag. He took the paper and tried to read the words but it was written in an ancient language that he'd never seen before. He looked at the signature line and thought about the worst case scenario, but he pushed those thoughts aside with what his father could do with his prolonged life.

"I am going to need a verbal confirmation or refusal before we start." The man said.

"Yes, I'll sign it. As long as you uphold your end of the deal." Johnny said to which the man smiled.

"Of course." He then handed a silver letter opener to Johnny.

Johnny had already guessed who he was, and he knew what he had to do with the blade. He then slid the blade across his right palm and let the blood drip onto the signature line of the contract. After that, he handed the man the signed piece of paper.

"Didn't need to be that extreme, a simple cut on the thumb would have done just nicely." The man said.

"A pleasure doing business with you." He began to walk away until he turned around last minute.

"Oh, silly me, I didn't even tell you my name." He said.

"I already know who you are…you're the devil." Johnny said.

"That is one of the names I've been given yes, but it's more of a title than anything. A title that's been given to many, so in reality I'm not even the original. But I digress." He said recollecting himself.

"My name is Mephistopheles. But since we're such good friends, you can call me Mephisto." He finished with a smile. He began to walk away again into the shadows.

"See you soon, Johnny." Mephisto disappeared in the darkness soon after that, and then the rain began to fall on Johnny again. Left kneeling on the sidewalk thinking about what he had just done.

* * *

Ruby sat there shocked about what she had just heard while Johnny looked somberly away from her, reminiscing about the events of that night.

"I guess you could say that he held up his end of the bargain. My dad was cured and back to stunt work, but not for long. We were coming home one night after celebrating my dad's health when we were hit by a driver who fell asleep at the wheel. My dad died before the paramedics got there. After his funeral the fair shut down his part of the show. They fired me and I had no choice but to leave, but not before Mephisto wanted to exchange a few words. He said that he was told to remove his cancer, but that didn't mean he would live until old age. Anything that happened after was out of his control, but since he was gone he could move things up 'ahead of schedule' as he put it. He told me that when we made the deal, he placed an ancient spirit within me and that when he needed us, he would call on us." Johnny finished.

"The Rider…I-I mean Zara...um…" Ruby said struggling to remember.

"Zarathos. Anyway, for about a year that's what I did. The Rider hunted down and destroyed any opposition against Mephisto or any who escaped his 'realm'. But I decided to defy Mephisto and told him that I would us the power of the Rider against him. But I didn't realize how much control he had over the Rider. The more I distanced myself from him the more volatile Zarathos became. His methods became more brutal, distinction between the worst of people and those who illegally downloaded one song and felt bad for it became blurred, and the appearance became more…'charred' is the best way to describe it." Johnny pulled out his scroll to show Ruby. It was a video much like the one Ruby had seen.

"This is the only clear footage of the Rider." Johnny said.

In the footage were people laying down on the ground around the Rider after a battle most likely. The Rider turned in the direction of the camera and Ruby had a full glimpse of him. He wore a black leather jacket with a white stripe on the front that formed a rectangle with no bottom stripe to connect the lines and a flaming skull with burning eyes (the look is that of the Ghost Rider of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. only with black jeans and biker boots and without the flaming lines on the front of the skull). The Rider then picked up the almost chrome chain he had dropped, mounted his bike, and then drove away.

"THAT is what he looked like before he went completely off the rails. The look he had after is not something I would want anyone to see." Johnny said putting his scroll away.

Ruby looked up to see the jacket lying down on the kitchen counter. She got up and walked over to it almost instinctively. Johnny walked over and began talking again.

"It was a birthday gift from my mother when I was six. She said that she knew that I would be into bikes as much as my dad was, so she got me this jacket so that if I ever wanted to ride bikes I would have a jacket by the time I was old enough to ride them."

Ruby smiled at that. She looked down at the jacket and traced the stripe along the jacket until she spoke.

"I can't even imagine being someone's…someone's…bounty hunter at fourteen." She said sadly.

"Coming from the fifteen year old Huntress in training." Johnny said with a smirk.

"You know what I mean." She said after lightly punching his arm.

"I can hardly believe any of this…I mean demons, ghosts, magic. It seems so unreal." Ruby then looked up to him in realization.

"Wait, you said that it came out at night. Does that mean…?" Ruby asked worriedly.

"No, he's never showing up again." Johnny said, earning a confused look from Ruby.

He showed her his necklace and Ruby saw a skeletal figure frozen in the gem. Ruby at that moment realized she was looking at the spirit of the Rider itself.

"Those monks I mentioned exorcised him out of me and placed him within one of their blessed gem necklaces. They offered to keep him hidden away in their desert monastery, but I didn't want Mephisto showing up there and hurting them to take it back." Johnny said.

"So you thought coming to a school full of teenagers and young adults with it was a better idea?" Ruby asked accusingly.

"I made sure to cover my tracks before I got here. No one from the outside world knows I'm here." Johnny said.

"So, if you wanted, could you break it out and become the Rider again?" Ruby asked.

"Yes, but there is absolutely NOOOO way I'm ever doing that."

"So you wouldn't do it if like, the school was on fire and people needed help or something?"

"Ruby, it would more than likely just kill those I would want to save." Johnny said, earning a confused look from Ruby.

"The Rider sees no distinction between murderers and those who have told an innocent white lie. Now tell me, have you ever told a white lie?"

"Noooo." Ruby said looking away from him.

"That was a lie wasn't it?" He asked deadpanned.

"…Yeah."

"That right there, he would ki-" He stopped not wanting to scare Ruby. "hurt you for just that. Doesn't matter how much good you've done, he will only focus on the one bad thing. I will NEVER let him free if meant any chance that he would hurt you or anyone else" Johnny finished.

"Ruby, I am trusting you to keep everything I just told you a secret and I also want you to never go near or touch this necklace. I don't want it hurting you if it ever got out. There might even be a cookie or two in it for you." Ruby's face lit up after that and hugged him.

"Deal." Ruby instantly regretted saying it and let go from the hug. "Sorry, poor choice of words." She said, remembering that it was a deal that caused all his problems.

"It's fine." He said ruffling her hair despite her slight protest.

"Anyway, head on back to your dorm and get some sleep. Your second semester starts tomorrow and I don't want you tired for your first class." Johnny said.

"Ok. I'll uh…I'll see you around." Ruby said, not knowing exactly what to say after the events of that night.

"See you around, Ruby." Johnny said with a smile.

After Ruby left, Johnny sat down and let out a long exhausted sigh after recounting his story. Almost as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Before drifting off to sleep, he said one final thing to himself.

"What a night…."


	4. Prologue 4: Heavy Talks

(A short time before the Pyrrha Nikos/Penny Polendina match)

Johnny was sweeping away leaves and dust on one of the paths outside on of the buildings. Ozpin had insisted he take the day off and enjoy the fair but Johnny just wanted to finish his work. The fairgrounds reminded him of home, of his old life, and his parents. It made him somber and he didn't want to relive those old memories just yet. As he was sweeping, he noticed the sound of crying from around the corner and went to investigate. When he reached who was making the sound, he could hardly believe what he saw. Pyrrha Nikos sitting on the ground, alone, and crying shielding her tears behind her legs from the world.

"To be honest, this isn't how I expected my shift to end." Johnny said, causing Pyrrha to suddenly jerk up with a sharp inhale. After a few seconds she spoke.

"I'm sorry, I'll uh…I'll go." Pyrrha made to leave.

"No, no, I was just saying…never mind. What's wrong, Pyrrha?" Johnny asked sincerely.

"It's nothing you should worry over, I'm fine."

"If that were true you wouldn't have been sitting there crying." Johnny said deadpanned. Pyrrha stepped a few inches away from him and was silent for a few seconds.

"I just…I am faced with a decision that could permanently change me for the better or for the worse. It would mean gaining everything I had built up towards my whole life, but it could mean losing who I am and the people closest to me." Pyrrha said looking at the ground sadly.

"Mind telling me what this decision is?"

"I don't think you'd believe me if I told you."

"You'd be surprised." Johnny said in an amused tone. "Did you tell your team about this ominous decision?"

"I've only spoken to Jaune but…"

"But given the fact that I found you alone crying probably means that talk didn't go so well." Johnny said, to which Pyrrha looked away sadly again.

"Being a Huntress is something that I've always wanted to be, and if I say yes it would mean fulfilling my dream but at the cost of who I am."

"Let me guess, you didn't give Jaune any context about this, he said the right thing at the wrong time, and it hurt you." Johnny said, to which Pyrrha nodded.

"You want my opinion?" Pyrrha looked up at him awaiting his answer.

"Don't do it. You've worked so hard and been through so much to get here. Those experiences and memories effect your decisions on the battlefield and as a person. If you get rid of everything that makes you who you are, your decisiveness, your kindness, your compassion, then what will you become afterwards?" Pyrrha contemplated that answer just before he continued.

"There is the possibility that whatever takes your place could cause so much damage and pain to those around you. Especially those closest to you." Johnny said, all too familiar with monsters using other peoples' bodies to destroy both guilty and innocent lives.

"Trust me, there are some decisions in my life that I wish I never made. This thing with you sounds all too familiar to something that changed my life for the worse, so don't make the same mistakes I did. That way you get to live your live and become someone better as the great person you are now, and you also get to keep the people who matter most in your life." Johnny finished with a smile that he hoped would cheer her up, a smile which Pyrrha returned just before hugging him.

"Thank you." Johnny could feel the silent tears of joy through his coveralls and hugged her back.

"You're welcome, Pyrrha." Pyrrha stepped away and wiped her eyes.

"I'm going to have to seriously apologize to Jaune after the match."

"He'll be ok until then. I mean sure you ran away from him, but I doubt he'll hold it against you." Johnny said.

"Well, before I ran off I may have…thrown him into a wall…" Pyrrha said with guilt in her voice.

"…..What?" To which Pyrrha looked at him with a guilty expression.

"Well, it IS Jaune after all. He'll probably be the one saying sorry to you instead of the other way around." Johnny said scratching the back of his head.

"One can only hope." Pyrrha ended with a chuckle. "I should be heading to the colosseum now, but thank you so much Johnny. It really means a lot to me."

"Anytime. Good luck, Pyrrha." Johnny ended with a smile.

Pyrrha walked in the direction of the docking bays to catch an Air Bus to the colosseum. Johnny decided to finish up, get changed into his new bike leathers which were a plain black leather jacket and pants with a black t-shirt and black biker boots (the leathers worn in Spirit of Vengeance), and head to the colosseum to see a match. The only times he attended were for the RWBY and JNPR fights in the teams rounds. He didn't feel like attending the others, and felt more obligated not to go after Yang was accused of injuring an opponent unprovoked (which he still didn't believe) and the disqualification of team RWBY from the tournament. He had argued with Ozpin and General Ironwood over the matter but didn't get very far.

* * *

(Ozpin's office a few hours earlier)

"You can't seriously be buying into this crap." Johnny said angrily.

"Watch your language AND your tone." Johnny was amused to find the comment came from Ironwood.

"Oh my god. What are you, my dad?"

"That's enough, Mr. Blaze." Ozpin said.

"No, not until this matter is resolved." Johnny responded.

"The matter is that she attacked a helpless student and was reprimanded accordingly." Ironwood said.

"That is complete bull! I know Yang, that is not something she would do."

"She saw something that didn't happen while coming down from an adrenaline rush."

"Have you met Yang? Her job IS adrenaline, and she's been used to it for years. You're telling me that she got worked up after a contained match in front of her peers when she didn't even waver defending this city during the Breach? Are you freaking kidding me?"

"The footage shows her attacking him." Ironwood retaliated.

"I learned a long time ago not to take everything at face value."

"You still think he provoked her?"

"I believe her!"

"Then, she's a liar!" After Ironwood said that, Johnny punched him in the face. As Ironwood was about to retaliate, Glynda separated the both of them with her semblance.

"That's enough!" Glynda shouted at the both of them.

Ironwood caressed the left side of his jaw while Johnny backed away in surrender. Ozpin looked at Johnny sternly before speaking.

"Mr. Blaze, this kind of behavior will not be tolerated in my school."

"Yet you let team CRDL bully Ms. Scarletina." Johnny said.

"Enough, Mr. Blaze!" Ozpin said, raising his voice. He leaned in to whisper in Johnny's ear.

"You're not fired in case you were wondering, but I might have to if this happens again. Take the rest of the day off, enjoy the fairgrounds, cool off, and come back tomorrow with a clear head. Alright?" Ozpin finished.

"I think I'll get back to work now." Johnny said before walking toward the elevator.

"I also have matters to attend to. As much as I love these talks-" Ironwood said rubbing his jaw. "I'd rather not miss said matters."

"Elevator's here already. C'mon, we'll share." Johnny said holding the open button.

"I'll catch the next one." Ironwood said.

"Nonsense, it'll be faster this way."

Ironwood looked to Ozpin and Glynda before cautiously stepping into the elevator with Johnny. As the doors closed, Johnny began to speak.

"You can relax, that punch was only a one-time thing." Johnny said before continuing.

"But let me be clear." Johnny looked to Ironwood next to him. "I don't care what harsh words you want to say about me. But if you hurt or insult my friends ever again, I don't care who you are…I WILL kill you. Understand?" Johnny said threateningly, to which Ironwood only nodded with a stern expression. When the doors opened, Johnny stepped out.

"See you 'round, jerk-wad. Sorry, Ironwood." When he was far enough away from him, he began to chuckle.

"Can't believe he actually believed that last bit." To that, he only continued to laugh.

"Me. Kill a general." Johnny laughed even harder.

Johnny had a strict rule to never kill, even while the Rider possessed him he fought back to try and make him stop. Johnny would never kill, but he thought…

 _There's no need to let the General know that, is there?_

* * *

Johnny, freshly changed, made it onto an Air Bus at the last minute. As it lifted toward the direction of the colosseum, Johnny messaged Pyrrha wishing her good luck if she was picked. She sent back a quick thank you.

"Hope it's a good fight tonight." Johnny hoped.

But his expectations would only be met with horror…


	5. Prologue 5: The Rider Lives Again

(A few minutes after Ruby and Weiss had left to find Jaune and Pyrrha)

Johnny had gotten what he could from his house. A small bag of clothes including his old striped leather jacket, his bag of chains, his toothbrush, and his bike. He made it to the docks outside Beacon and saw a heartbreaking sight. Nora and Ren injured on the ground, Blake with her stomach bandaged, and Yang unconscious and missing her right arm. Johnny then turned toward Sun.

"Where are the others?"

"Jaune and Pyrrha are missing, and Weiss and Ruby went to look for them. But we need to evacuate otherwise we're not gonna live long enough to see the end of tonight." Sun said.

"But the others-AH!" Nora tried to stand but was knocked back down after a sharp pain.

"Guys! We'll die if we stay here any longer. I don't wanna leave them either, but that's what will happen if we wait." Sun proclaimed.

Johnny looked back at the school he had worked at for the past year. All that work, all those good times, crumbled and burnt before him. Then while Johnny held his necklace, he began to remember the night he told Ruby the truth about the Rider. What she had said to him.

 _"_ _So, if you wanted, could you break it out and become the Rider again?"_

 _"_ _Yes, but there is absolutely NOOOO way I'm ever doing that."_

 _"_ _So you wouldn't do it if like, the school was on fire and people needed help or something?"_

 _"_ _Ruby, it would more than likely just kill those I would want to save."_

Johnny looked at the gem. It more than likely would kill those he wanted to help, but then he didn't have much choice. He could destroy the Grimm, even the White Fang who were there, he didn't want to kill those people but that was the reality when it came to the Rider. He silently spoke to the gem, asking it to please spare his friends, that it can destroy those who would destroy these people and this kingdom but it must not destroy those he loved. He looked up to his friends and prepared his goodbye. If the pleading didn't work and the Rider would still destroy those it sees as sinful, which was almost everyone alive, then he would have to distance himself from them. To ensure they didn't burn too.

"This past year, all of you have made me feel something I hadn't felt since I was fifteen. Happiness. I wanted you all to know that I see you more as family than friends, and I also want you to know that I love you all very much." Johnny smiled somberly at them.

"Wait, what are you saying?" Nora looked worriedly at him.

"Yeah, what are you saying?" Sun asked.

"I'm going to do something that could help the others, but it might mean that I'll have to keep my distance from all of you to keep you safe. I don't want to leave you, but I have to if it means bringing them back safely."

Johnny quickly hugged Sun, walked over to Ren and Nora and hugged them too. He then went over to Blake and Yang and gently placed his hand onto where Blake was holding Yang's hand.

"Be sure to tell Yang and the others that I love them too, and tell Ruby that I'm sorry. It was the only way." Johnny said.

"HEY! Drop your weapons and get on the ground!" A White Fang soldier shouted.

Johnny realized that they must have followed the sound of his bike when he drove to the docks. Johnny took the necklace off from around his neck and stood up. He walked over near to where the two White Fang soldiers were standing and took a long breath of air. Deciding that he would bask in flames once again.

"I said get on the ground!" The soldier shouted again.

Johnny looked back at his friends one last time and then with a shout, he threw the gem on the ground. It shattered and it broke in two but after a few seconds, nothing happened.

"What are you doing? Do you think this is a joke?!" Asked the White Fang soldier.

Just after he said that, flames began to swirl around Johnny. Spiraling upward until they converged in front of him and made what seemed to be a human shaped figure made of fire. It placed its hands on his cheeks, and then gripped them tightly and painfully. A skull then came into shape through the flames and opened its mouth to release fire down Johnny's throat. The figure began to disappear as the flames continued into Johnny. When the spirit was gone, Johnny fell to the ground and grunted in pain.

"What…what in the world was that?" One of the soldiers asked.

"Jus-just kill him, kill him now!" Shouted the other one.

The other soldier raised his rifle at Johnny's head, but then Johnny grabbed the rifle by the barrel. It began to glow like it was being superheated. The soldier let go after the heat became too intense and as soon as he did that, the gun disintegrated. Johnny, or what looked like Johnny, grabbed him by the collar and pulled him close.

The soldier looked at him and noticed that parts of his face began to burn away. "Johnny" smiled just before he began to release fire from his mouth and onto the man's face. The flames melted away Johnny's face and reduced the man's body to ash. The soldier that was left began firing at the Rider but he just responded with throwing and wrapping his chain around the man. When he pulled back, he turned him into ash as well.

The others could hardly believe the spectacle in front of them. But they were even more shocked when the Rider turned to face them. A charred looking skull on fire, eyes so wide, hateful, and dark they looked like they could burn them with just a look. The clothes "it" wore were charred and bubbling as though the fires underneath them were melting through the clothing (same look from Spirit of Vengeance). The explosions in the background toward the tower distracted the Rider from the others. He held his hand out in the direction of the bike, the tires then exploded into flames, and then drove itself over to where he was standing. He mounted the bike and then sped off towards Ruby, Weiss, Jaune, and Pyrrha, leaving a trail of fire behind him. The others were still shocked by what they had just seen. Blake watched as he drove off and then muttered silently to herself.

"Ghost Rider…"

* * *

"I have a plan." Ruby said readying her scythe.

"You always do." Weiss said before they both charged into the direction of the tower.

Just before they were about to attack the freshly spawned Grimm that had just dropped in from the flying monster above, their attention turned toward the sounds from behind them.

"RUN! IT'S COMING!" A White Fang soldier shouted to the rest of his comrades as they were firing aimlessly behind them.

Ruby and Weiss then turned their attention to the deep demonic laughter from the direction the White Fang was firing. The saw a bike in flames riding towards the tower. It came to a hard stop and slid into four White Fang members, instantly turning them into dust. The rest of them seized firing as the "creature" calmly got off its motorcycle, chains in hand, and looked at them. After a few moments, it roared at them and charged while they fired at it to no effect.

Weiss and Ruby couldn't believe what they were seeing, a walking skeleton on fire turning their attackers into ash while it suffered no damage. Weiss was still trying to wrap her head around what was happening in front of her, but Ruby knew what was happening. Ruby let out a tear of sadness when she realized who it was. The Ghost Rider lived again, and her friend was lost to her.

After reducing one soldier into dust from a single punch, the Rider looked toward a downed Atlesian Paladin and got an idea. As they continued to fire, the Rider wrapped its chains around the main body of the Paladin and steadied himself at the top of it. With a loud roar, the Paladin was transformed by flames and stood up to destroy anything in its path. Some soldiers concentrated fire on the Paladin while the others held back the Grimm that threatened to end them. The Rider motioned the Paladin to swing its arms at the attackers, sending them through the air as they burned. The soldiers and Grimm grew in number and the Rider noticed, he let out one last roar as he fired all of the Paladin's missiles into the air and bring them right back down on them.

Weiss acted fast. She grabbed Ruby, dove behind one of the concrete benches, set up a wall of ice to block the impact of the explosion, and held onto to Ruby to brace for the impact.

The missiles came down and wiped out everything. The ice wall absorbed some of the impact before it broke apart from the rest of the oncoming force and heat, almost taking out Weiss and Ruby. The explosions created a large hole in the entrance of the tower, almost twenty feet tall. The shockwave shook the tower and almost tripped Pyrrha and Cinder as they were engaged in their battle at the top.

Ruby and Weiss looked up from where they were and saw a sea of flames. Nothing and no one had survived, there wasn't even a trace that anyone had stood nearby. Behind one of the walls of flame, they saw the Paladin drop down lifeless. The Rider walked out from behind it, without a scratch on him. As he looked at the damage he caused, he then noticed them staring at him. He then heated his chains and began to walk towards them, intent on punishing them for any past wrongs they had done. Weiss and Ruby readied themselves to fight this creature that clearly wasn't Johnny anymore.

Cinder had broken free from the metal gears that Pyrrha had imprisoned her in using a large show of her powers. The Rider sensed it and looked up towards the top of the tower.

"Maiden…" It whispered in a deep voice and made towards his bike, away from the girls.

Seeing as how he wasn't interested in them anymore, Ruby went back to their original task.

"We've gotta hurry!" Ruby said. Weiss then looked up and quickly summoned her glyphs up along the tower.

"You can do this." Weiss said.

Ruby then ran as fast as she could over the glyphs, hoping to make it to Pyrrha in time. She then noticed the noise of an engine getting closer to her. Just before she realized that it was impossible to hear an engine since a car or a bike couldn't ride up a wall, a familiar flaming motorcycle sped past her. The Rider, to Ruby's astonishment, was riding his bike up the wall of the tower.

* * *

Cinder had fired an arrow into Pyrrha's heel, and walked towards her.

"It's unfortunate you were promised a power that was never truly yours." Cinder said. She knelt down and lifted Pyrrha's head by the chin and made Pyrrha look at her.

"But take comfort in knowing that I will use it in ways you could never have imagined." Cinder ended with a smile.

Pyrrha looked at her and asked. "Do you believe in destiny?"

"Yes." Was Cinder's response. Cinder stood up and summoned her bow and arrow, and aimed right for Pyrrha's heart.

The Rider rode up into the air and landed right in between them just as she fired the arrow. The shockwave from the sudden landing knocked Cinder back and sent Pyrrha flying. Ruby had landed just in time to see the whole display. Pyrrha and Cinder looked to see what caused it, and were shocked by what they saw. The Rider stood up from his bike with chains in hand and looked to see where the arrow had hit. It was embedded into the back tire. The Rider looked at Cinder, who was still in shock at the impossible creature before her, and huffed in anger at the inconvenient damage she caused to the bike. The arrow disintegrated as the flames repaired the tire and the bike drove itself back down the tower to make room for the battle.

The Rider wrapped his chain around the bow and whipped it out of Cinder's hand. The bow separated into swords with one disintegrating and the other imbedding itself into the floor nearby. He charged at Cinder who fired fire blasts at her opponent, only for him to dodge them. He grabbed her arm and tried to burn her, but her Maiden powers were protecting her from his fiery grip. The Rider could only grunt in annoyance before trying to punch her, to which she blocked his attacks and answered in kind. After dodging a punch she proceeded to kick him in the groin, which sent him stumbling back a little.

"I'm sorry, did that hurt? It looks like it did." Cinder laughed.

The Rider roared and charged at her again.

Ruby ran over to Pyrrha while the other two were engaged in their battle. Ruby had to get Pyrrha's attention by snapping her fingers in front of her face to distract her from the fight.

"Ru-Ruby, wha-what is…?" Pyrrha struggled to ask.

"He…is a long story. Can you walk?"

"Uh, let me see." Pyrrha tried to stand, only to yelp as she fell back down from the pain.

"Ok, I don't think I can run you back down the wall." Ruby looked around to find where she landed earlier to be enough cover from Cinder and the Riders' battle. She ran them over there and they continued to watch them go at it. Cinder blocked the Rider's punches and chain whips while the Rider dodged whatever attacks she could throw at him. When she made for a fire blast at his head, he quickly ducked and grabbed her by the collar pulling her into close eye contact.

"Look into my eyes. Your soul is stained by the blood of the innocent." The Rider began his mantra for his penance stare. While he was talking, he didn't see that Cinder was readying her hands.

"Feel their pai-" He was interrupted as Cinder released fire from her hands downward, allowing her to fly up into the sky with him hanging onto her leg. To which she quickly kicked him off. But as he was falling he whipped his chain around her leg, dragging her down with him.

They hit the floor hard. Cinder got up on one knee and tried to catch her breath.

"I'm sorry, did that hurt? It looks like it did." The Rider said mockingly.

She heard the sound of a gunshot, looked up, and quickly blocked the incoming two rounds heading for her with her right hand. Ruby had fired from her open scythe, but neither round had hit Cinder. The Rider had looked between the two standing warriors ready to battle each other, until he looked at Crescent Rose and placed his hand on it. With a roar, he passed his hellfire into the weapon and it began to change. The weapon became charred in appearance and the main blades were engulfed in flames.

Cinder began to move towards Ruby until she fired her "Hell Scythe" at Cinder. She tried to block it like before, but she was sent flying a few feet away and onto her back from the explosion. Cinder quickly moved when Ruby fired at her again and the fire ball released blew apart the top side of the building it impacted, sending debris down towards the ground below. Weiss moved just before said debris impacted where she was standing.

Ruby swung the blades at Cinder and managed to nick her in the side but she moved to dodge the rest of the swings then she fired at Ruby's feet, knocking her back and sending the "Hell Scythe" flying away and reverting back into Crescent Rose. The Rider ran up behind Cinder, but she grabbed his arm and flipped him over her shoulder and onto the ground. She grabbed the barrel/grip of Pyrrha's destroyed Miló and began bashing in the Rider's skull with it. As she hit him, fractures began to form on the skull and the flames began to dim. Pyrrha tried desperately to use her semblance to pull the grip away from Cinder but couldn't since her aura hadn't reformed yet making it useless to use her semblance. Cinder stopped and tossed the grip away while she stood over the beaten Ghost Rider as he turned over and started crawling away. She walked over to grab the embedded sword in the ground and walked back over the Rider.

"I don't know what you are." Cinder said between breaths. "But, I don't think I'll have to worry about it after this." Cinder drove her sword through his back, which caused him to roar in pain. He passed out and the flames turned into black smoke. Cinder took two steps away from him and looked down at her fallen opponent in triumph.

"But nice try." Cinder said with a smile.

Ruby watched as Cinder impaled what was once her friend and felt deep anguish at the sight. With despair and grief taking its toll, she let out a loud scream.

"NOOOOO!" Ruby shouted as a bright white light emerged from her eyes and engulfed the rooftop. The giant flying Grimm roared just as it was consumed by the light.

"What?!" Cinder shouted before she too was engulfed in the light.

Then everything went dark.

* * *

Qrow had landed near the outside of the tower, reverting back from his crow form into his human one. He saw Weiss standing near the fallen debris and ran towards her.

"Weiss! Where are the others? Where's Yang and Ruby?" He asked quickly.

"Yang was evacuated to Vale but Ruby…Ruby ran up there and hasn't come back." Weiss said as she pointed to the top of the tower.

Their attention was caught by a loud metallic noise sounding from the twenty foot large hole in the front of the tower. They tried to see inside but couldn't see past the large clouds of smoke coming from within. They then saw a silhouette of someone carrying something through the hole and readied themselves for battle. Qrow dropped his sword and fell to his knees while Weiss stared wide eyed at the figure walking out of the smoke.

It was Pyrrha limping towards them while carrying an unconscious Ruby in her arms. Behind her was the body of Amber, the previous Fall Maiden before Cinder killed her and took the rest of her power, on a metal sheet being pulled by Pyrrha's semblance. She placed Ruby in Qrow's arms and collapsed next to Weiss who held onto Pyrrha. As Qrow looked at the small cuts and bruises on Ruby's face, he hadn't noticed the heavy footsteps approaching them. They all looked up when they heard one loud step and saw the Ghost Rider standing there, holding his chest where Cinder's sword had gone through, looking angrily at them. Qrow, still knelt down, grabbed his sword in his right hand while he still held Ruby in his left and Weiss readied her weapon at the Rider. The Rider was about to attack until he noticed the unconscious Ruby and the deceased Amber, taking a moment to look at them. He walked over to them as Qrow still pointed his weapon at him.

The Rider knelt down between the two girls and removed his gloves to show his skeletal hands engulfed in blue flames. He brought his left over Ruby's face and his right over Amber's chest. The flames from his left hand cascaded over Ruby's face healing the cuts and bruises that were present, and the flames from his right hand healed where the arrow had struck. Amber took a sharp inhale of air after the wound was fully healed as she returned to life. Weiss, Pyrrha, and Qrow couldn't believe what they had just seen. They looked at the Rider to see that his skull was engulfed in the same blue flames as he looked tenderly at the two girls he had just healed.

"What is THAT?!" Shouted Port from a small distance behind them. The Rider quickly looked up as the flames reverted back to their original burning orange color. Port and Oobleck stepped back a little after seeing that explosive change. The Rider stood up looked down at Ruby and the others one last time, put his gloves back on, mounted his summoned bike, and rode off into the distance towards the forest on the other side of the school. They all looked at him as he drove away, leaving behind a fire trail and leaving all the destruction of Johnny's old life behind him.

* * *

(The island of Patch, an unknown amount of time later)

Back in Ruby and Yang's home, Ruby and Qrow had finished their talk about what had happened. With Cinder, Ruby's supposed "Silver Eyes" ability to freeze the giant Grimm, the condition of the school, and about an apparent lead in Haven.

"Catch ya later, kiddo." Were Qrow's parting words. Or so he thought until Ruby said something.

"Uncle Qrow… Are you going to look for the burning skeleton guy?" Ruby asked, playing it safe so that she wouldn't reveal Johnny as the Rider.

"No. Even if I wanted to I don't think he wants to be found. Besides, he didn't look very happy when he left. I heard what he did from Pyrrha and Weiss, I don't think I'd make it out alive if I did find him." Qrow said.

"Ruby, I've seen a lot of things. Some pretty unbelievable things if I'm being honest, but I have never seen anything like that before." Qrow took a second to take a long inhale of air. "Whatever it was, it decimated White Fang foot soldiers using a previously nonfunctioning Paladin using 'hellfire' to bring it to life, rode a magic bike up the side of a building, healed you, and brought someone else back from the dead. Even if I was to ask him, I'm not sure even Ozpin knew what that thing was. And that's saying something." Qrow finished.

"Be sure to check on your sister before you head downstairs. See ya, Ruby." Qrow then left, leaving Ruby alone in bed wondering about where Johnny could have ended up.

* * *

(A short while later)

Ruby learned from Yang about the fate of the other two members of her team. Weiss was taken back to Atlas by her father and Blake had left without saying a word, not even Johnny's goodbye to Yang, Weiss, and Ruby that he had asked her to extend. Ruby was also saddened to see that her sister had given up.

"So what do we do now?" Ruby asked Yang.

"You can do whatever you want. I'm gonna lie here." Yang said somberly.

"Yang…" Ruby reached her hand toward her sister.

"Just leave me alone." Yang said without even looking at her.

"I love you." Ruby said softly as she left Yang's room.

She went downstairs and when she looked around she noticed an envelope addressed to Ruby on the table. Qrow and Taiyang talked quietly in the kitchen and paid her no mind. She opened it to find a letter from Johnny and began to read.

 _Dear Ruby,_

 _I hope you get this letter as it took quite the effort to send it. I'm doing ok if you were worried I wasn't cause let's face it, you were. I heard that you guys were doing pretty badly, but you're all still alive so I can be happy with that at least. As you know, I let the Rider out in the hopes that it would save you and the others and by a stroke of luck he did just that. There were a few close calls where he almost killed all of you, and that's why I have to stay away for a bit. Maybe even forever. It's too much of a risk to be around you while having this monster inside waiting to come out. I don't want any of you to meet the same fate as those who have crossed the Rider. I care about all of you too much to let that happen._

 _I've been on my own since I was fourteen. Moving around, not making any attachments so that no one would burn just because they stole breath mints the one time, you know? But this past year of knowing the eight of you reminded me what it was like being a part of a family again and that is something I can never repay. You made me feel happiness after years of sadness and pain, and I thank all of you for that. I have faith that we'll see each other again someday, as well as the hope that you'll all be together again as a team and as a family. Be sure to look out for each other no matter what, and you'll all be fine. I believe in you._

 _Until the next time around…_

 _Your friend,_

 _Johnathon Barton Blaze_

 _Beacon Academy Caretaker and Stuntman_

Ruby smiled, glad to know that her friend was ok. A few silent tears landed on the letter, sad that she was without another friend. Both Penny and Johnny were gone now, and it was time that they got some answers as to why.

* * *

Ruby, Jaune, Nora, and Ren were all packed and ready to head out on their quest to Haven, intent on finding out why all this destruction and heartbreak happened in the first place. After asking them if they wanted to come along, they of course were adamant on going with her.

Ruby looked over to see another figure standing behind them.

"What about you? You sure you're ready?" Ruby asked.

"I'm all healed up and ready to begin the journey." Pyrrha said with a smile.

They all walked off together, ready to start a new chapter in their lives.

Meanwhile in between the kingdoms of Vale and Vacuo, Johnny Blaze rode his motorcycle down a dirt road between the trees that outlined the road. There was a fork in the road and Johnny stopped to contemplate which direction he should go. He then reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a picture. He smiled as he looked at the eight of his friends huddled around him while he was working, all of them with smiles on their faces. He placed the photo back into his pocket and took the road to his right. As he drove past, he ran over an old sign that had fallen down years ago but he kept going.

As he continued west, the sign had an arrow pointing south from the road he was on which read: **300 miles to San Venganza**.


	6. San Venganza: Blackheart's Back

Hello, and thank you for the reviews and favorites. We really appreciate it. Well, we're in full gear now since the main character is officially the Ghost Rider again and will be causing a lot of havoc. But we feel like we should explain certain decisions in the story just so that we can clear things up, and we'll clear it up in the same way we did in the first chapter. It's a little easier that way.

 **Why are Pyrrha and Amber alive? Is it fanservice or something?** No. We'll admit that Pyrrha is one of our favorite characters from RWBY and her death kinda...destroyed us. It was a shocking blow and kind of a cool move, but in our opinion they killed her off too early on so we thought we could add more stuff to her character in this story. Her relationships with people other than Jaune, her relationship with Jaune both good and rocky (it'll happen when one of them tries to get themselves killed against the wishes of the other), and how she'll be perceived by other people after accidentally killing Penny in front of everyone on the planet. We didn't get much time with Amber and we feel that's untapped potential that we would like to explore, especially with her new powers ;). But we'll get to that later.

Without giving too much away, we also kept them alive because of their importance in later stories that may include them being apart of the Darkhold Redeemers and the Midnight Sons. We didn't want to reveal that, but we wanted to give the readers (you, of course) something to look forward to.

 **Why isn't there a specific amount of time that has passed listed in the story?** The writers (Miles and Kerry) have said that the time between volumes 3 and 4 are six to eight months, but nothing specific (at the time that this is being written). So it'll just be "a few months" for now until we get a specific number of months passed.

 **Comic book characters showing up:** We're introducing **Wolf** and **Sara** in this chapter. Their histories from the comic books have been altered to fit this story including their names to a slight degree. So no immortality for Wolff and no convent for Sara. Also being introduced is **Blackheart** , **Deathwatch** , and a slight mention of the **Deathspawn**.

We hope that cleared some things up and left you looking forward to some new stuff. Thank you for your reviews, favorites, follows, and views. We hope that we live up to any expectations you may have and we'll try our best not to let you down.

We hope you enjoy the rest of the story.

* * *

(Vacuo, somewhere in the desert. A few months after the Fall of Beacon)

"We found them all just like this. Must've been trying to make it to a nearby settlement but as you can see, they didn't make it." The scavenger said to the Huntsman next to him.

In front of them were dark and shriveled corpses of people who appeared to have been running from something.

"God…does anyone know how they got like this?" The Huntsman asked, pointing to the deceased.

"Well, according to the doc who was out here they all appeared to have died from heavy sulfur poisoning from the inside out."

"Sulfur? Like brimstone?" The Huntsman asked.

"Ah, so you're a God fearing man I take it?"

"Nah. My mom, she was the real 'fire and brimstone' member of the family." The Huntsman said with a chuckle. "But seriously, can sulfur really do this to people? Poison them to this degree?"

"Even the doc was puzzled. He said that he's never seen a case like this, but…there's a first for everything I guess. He also said that these people were murdered thirteen days ago, which means that their killer is probably long gone by now."

"How do you know they were murdered?" The Huntsman asked.

The scavenger motioned his finger to follow. They both walked up a sandy slope nearby to see the scene from a higher view. When the Huntsman looked down at the bodies, he could hardly believe what he saw.

"Now unless I'm mistaken, that doesn't look like they died of natural causes to me." The scavenger said.

From their view, they could see that the bodies were arranged to form lettering. The bodies laid out a message: **BRING ME THE CONTRACT**.

* * *

(Village of Mariah, between the kingdoms of Vale and Vacuo)

"Thank you, enjoy your purchase." Johnny said to a departing customer.

Johnny had found work as a street side merchant and sold rucksacks, containers both metal and glass for water, a few clothing options, and sunglasses. Johnny was known around the town as a kind newcomer. It was also known that no one knew where he lived and he also didn't come out at night. The townsfolk had some speculations: He was a criminal on the run, he was a werewolf, all the way down to a man who valued his privacy. He looked toward the glass window of the building behind him and noticed how much he had changed. His light brown hair was slightly more grown out compared to the fade haircut he had when he left Vale, and slight stubble had formed on his face.

"Man, I really need a haircut." Johnny said while running fingers through his hair.

"And a shave." Johnny looked to the stand next to his and saw an elderly woman sat behind it.

"You look like you got a hedgehog on your face." She ended with a laugh.

"Thanks Mariel. I can always count on you to boost my confidence" He said with a chuckle.

"Glad I could help." Mariel said with a laugh.

"Anyway, I think I'm gonna head out."

"See, I never understood that about you." Johnny looked up at her. "You finish your work early, you don't come out at night, and you don't see anybody. Not even a lady."

"Yeah, I guess I'm just not into that kind of thing right now." Johnny said, avoiding a direct explanation.

"Oh…what's his name?" Mariel asked with a smirk.

"His name is 'my bike' and he's great. In fact, he makes me happier than anyone I've ever met" Johnny said with a smile.

"Funny. But seriously, where do you even go?"

"That's simple, home." Johnny said as he finished putting away his cart in the storage area next to the building he was in front of.

Johnny mounted his bike and rode off out of the village. He took an old road to an abandoned warehouse that had been his home since he arrived in Mariah. He parked his bike out front and once he was inside, he flipped the switch next to the door and the lights came on. He went over to the old barrel he had used as a table and noticed a flask on the top that he definitely knew wasn't his. After hearing some clanking, he looked up and noticed someone going through his fridge.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?!" Johnny yelled.

The man looked up with bottles in hand and surprise on his face. He was a few inches taller than Johnny, full well kept beard, short dark brown hair that curved to the right, and a scar over his right eyebrow. After a few moments, Johnny knew who it was.

"Wolff?" Johnny asked.

"Hey! I didn't think you'd recognize me, man." Wolff pulled Johnny into a quick hug.

Michael Wolff had been Johnny's childhood friend from the carnival he grew up in. Michael had left with his dad when his parents were divorced, moved to Atlas, and later accepted into the Atlas military at a young age due to his great athletic and combat skills as well as his model excellence.

"Man, it's been what? Five years? Look at you, living the big life like we talked about." Wolff said, motioning his arms around the dirty run down warehouse.

"Yeah, I'm living the dream." Johnny said with a chuckle. "Man, those years away from the carnival look like they did a number on you. Atlas military must be running you ragged." Johnny finished, noticing the scar and the worn down brown bomber jacket under his black tactical vest, distressed black cargo pants, and his scuffed black boots.

"That would be true…if I was still enlisted into the military." Wolff finished.

"While I'm sure there's an interesting story behind that, I'm more interested in how you even found me." Johnny finished with intrigue in his voice.

"Well, first I wanted to see if you were ok. I started looking for you a few months after my mother told me you'd left. No one knew where you went after your dad died and I was worried. I looked through eye witness reports, footage from anywhere there was a camera, and then there weren't any more reports to go through. Until four years later when Beacon fell, I found your name among the list of those who were missing. I asked the professors you worked with about you and about any friends who might know where you were so I could look for you again. But your friends were scattered and the only friend of yours I could ask was the blonde one."

"I know two of them so you're gonna have to be specific." Johnny said.

"The one with the red haired teammate."

"Again, you need to be specific." Johnny said, confused on whether or not red hair meant Ruby or Pyrrha.

"The one missing an arm."

"Wow. You do realize how insensitive that sounds, right?"

"Anyway, she handed me a letter from you to her sister and I recognized where the stamp came from. I asked people along the road about you and I ended up here." Wolff finished.

"I noticed you mentioned that you 'first' wanted to check in on me." Johnny opened the bottle Wolff had given him. "Why do I get the feeling I'm not gonna like it when you say 'second'."

"Don't forget, knowing if you're ok is always a top priority for me. And second: I came looking for you not just because I wanted to see you, but because I need your help." Wolff pointed outside the window to direct Johnny's eyes.

He noticed a young woman leaning up against the side of the truck Wolff had driven into town in. She had bright orange hair, wore a green leather jacket over a gray t-shirt, black pants, and dark brown ankle high boots. She looked around with an expression that appeared to be mixed with both boredom and caution, like she was nervous.

"Who is she?" Johnny asked.

"Her name is Sara Aileana, a client."

"Client?"

"I had to find some work when I left Atlas. I figured 'unofficial Huntsman' or whatever."

"So a mercenary?" Johnny asked.

"I don't kill people!"

"Ok look, I'm sorry I brought it up. Can we get to the backstory of this whole thing, please?"

"She used to live in Vale until…well, you know. Before everything went to crap, she said that something was hunting her in the shadows of the city when she walked around the streets. So when no Huntsman or Huntress offered to take the job of killing it, I showed up."

"How thoughtful." Johnny said.

"Yeah, right? I tracked it down into the Forever Fall forest. It was dark and I couldn't get a good look at it but it was about the size of a normal Beowolf so I didn't think much of it. I didn't even question how something that big went in, out, and through a kingdom without being noticed by anyone except one woman. I was thinking about getting rid of it and getting paid, you know?"

"Sounds like you were cocky." Johnny said.

"Stop getting on my nerves. Anyway, when I found it I shot at it hoping to get its attention. And that's where it all went wrong…" Wolff said causing Johnny to be even more confused.

"It turned to look at me and…this thing wasn't a Grimm. It had no outward bone-things or whatever they're called, no red markings either it was just black all over with burning red eyes."

"It could just be a Grimm without a stereotypical shared look. How do you know it wasn't one?" Johnny asked.

"Because it spoke to me." Johnny instantly began listening.

* * *

(Forever Fall, one week earlier)

The creature stood tall as it walked toward Wolff. Wolff started moving backward but couldn't go anymore when his back hit a tree. It stopped in front of him and Wolff couldn't move as he was paralyzed by fear.

"That was mildly annoying, but you hardly seem worth it." The tall creature leaned in closer to Wolff.

"I will give you a fair bit of warning Mr. Wolff, stay away from the girl. I have plans for her and its best that you don't get in my way. I'll leave it to your imagination to guess what I might do to you if you ignore my warning." The creature stood up and began to walk away.

"Cherish these final days, for the world as you know it will be over. And not even HE can stop me this time." The creature then disappeared in a puff of black smoke, leaving Wolff scared and alone in the forest.

* * *

"So wait, hold on a second. Why do you need my help with this? I'm not a warrior, what help could I possibly give protecting this girl or fighting whatever that thing was?" Johnny asked.

"When I was looking into those eye witness reports I noticed something. Everywhere you went, people claimed to have seen a man on a motorcycle with his skull on fire killing criminals near where you were spotted." Johnny began to grimace. "And when I asked that professor with the big mustache if he saw anything, he said that he saw a man with his skull on fire ride away on a motorcycle that just so happens to look like the one you got outside. So let's please get past the whole 'I don't know what you're talking about' shtick and just get to the point." Wolff finished.

"Ok. Ok, yeah it's me. I'm the man on fire! But this thing inside of me almost killed my friends and it will try to kill you and that girl out there if given the chance. I have no control over this thing. Why do you think I live in this dirty warehouse away from civilization? Look, if I could help you I would in a heartbeat but IT would rather kill you than help you." Johnny said to a disappointed Wolff.

"I had to try, right?"

"Right." Johnny couldn't look at him.

"It was nice catching up with you, man. Just like old times." Wolff said patting Johnny's shoulder as he made to leave. Then Johnny looked up remembering a certain detail about the creature and turned to him.

"Wait. That thing in the forest it said 'HE can't stop me', right?" Johnny asked.

"Uh, yeah. That mean something?"

"Wolff, tell me exactly what it looked like."

"Um. Black all over, hind legs, tail, uh…red eyes, no mouth, and it had these long dread-like things on its head." When Wolff finished saying that, he noticed Johnny's eyes go wide.

"Wait, do you know what that thing is?"

"We may have fought each other over the years." Johnny said once he sat down.

"Well? Don't leave me hangin', what is it?" Wolff asked.

"His name is Blackheart. He's the son of Mephisto."

"Me-what?" Wolff asked.

"The guy that made me like this." Johnny said. "Blackheart is really bad news. If he mentioned the Rider to you, then that more than likely means he knows who you are to me and that he wanted you to find me."

"Find you for what exactly?"

"I don't know. He's never been keen on running into me on purpose before, but if he's after this girl, then despite my better judgement, I guess I'm gonna have to find a way to help you. But we're gonna need to leave right now, he may have followed you here."

"That does sound alarming. But first, introductions." Wolff said directing Johnny towards the truck.

"Why do I talk if he doesn't listen?" Johnny asked himself in an annoyed tone.

* * *

They both walked towards the truck where the woman Wolff was protecting was waiting impatiently.

"Miss Aileana, allow me to introduce you to my childhood friend. Johnny Blaze."

"Like the motorcycle guy?" Sara asked as she shook Johnny's hand.

"You've heard of me?" Johnny asked, completely stunned.

"Yeah, my dad used to take me to the carnival as a kid. We always went to go see you and your dad ride bikes every time we went."

"It's funny, she remembers you but not me." Wolff said in a mockingly hurt tone.

"Your trapeze act wasn't as memorable as my performance I guess." Johnny said with a smug tone.

"Look, I'm all for meeting childhood heroes but how is an ex-stunt man gonna protect me from anything?" Sara asked somewhat irritatedly. "No offense." She said to Johnny.

"Some taken." Johnny said.

"Good question. I'll let him explain that in the truck." Wolff said to the annoyance of Johnny.

"Help me put your bike in the back, will ya?"

* * *

As they loaded up the bike, Blackheart watched them from a nearby cliff. He then turned his attention to Johnny and laughed a little.

"Nice to see you're still wallowing in the dirt. Hoping that the demon inside won't feast on any of the poor souls around you. Ever the humanitarian, Johnny." Blackheart chuckled.

"You weren't very subtle with your message."

Blackheart turned to see what looked to be a man in black garb with a dark red tunic and similar colored gauntlets, dark red gaiters over his black boots, and a red mask with a symbol that appeared to be a black X with a line through the middle adorned on its face.

"But it got your attention didn't it? It's good to see you, Deathwatch."

Deathwatch was an ancient demon and a skilled warrior. He worked for Mephisto for many millennia until he was able to branch off on his own in the mortal plane a century before the Great War began.

"You're attracting attention and that is something we do NOT need." Deathwatch said.

"Forget about that for now. I take it that you've started your search."

"The contract of San Venganza contains immense power. It's unwise to look for such a deadly object, especially one that not even your father could-"

"Don't! Do NOT speak of him." Blackheart said angrily. Deathwatch remained calm and quiet.

"His time is done. You will find the contract, bring it to me, and we will rule this world like gods. Like it should be."

"Even gods need foot soldiers." Deathwatch said back.

"Then let's go recruiting." Blackheart said smugly.

"What about the Rider?"

"I'm sure your Deathspawn can keep them distracted, right?"

"They'll get it done."

Deathwatch left while Blackheart went back to looking at Johnny and the others loading his bike into Wolff's truck.

"Be seeing you." Blackheart then disappeared in a puff of smoke to prepare for the upcoming plans he had in store for them.


	7. San Venganza: A Deathly Trio

From now on, we're gonna list the characters from the Ghost Rider comics that we'll be introducing or allude to in our chapters. That way you guys know who they are and you can look them up if you want.

Also, because some of the characters and their outfits are dated, we'll write their appearances a little differently. You'll understand if you decide to look up the trio we're introducing this chapter.

 **Comic book characters introduced: Hag, Troll, Snowblind,** and the **Deathspawn.**

We'll tell you who the character at the end of this chapter is in the next one instead.

Anyway, thanks again for all the support and we hope you like what comes next. Also, it won't be too long now until you guys encounter some familiar faces ;).

Be sure to stick around.

* * *

(Devil's Brew Pub, Village of Mariah)

"Really?" Sara asked in disbelief.

"Yep." Johnny answered.

"A deal with the devil?"

"Correct." Johnny then took a drink of his ice cold lemon water. It was for a 'burning headache'.

"I don't believe you." Sara said, crossing her arms.

"I don't care." Johnny said looking up from his drink.

"Alright, let's take it down a notch. Plan, now, ideas please." Wolff said, trying to diffuse the situation.

"Blackheart won't stop until he has her for whatever it is that he's planning. The only thing I can think of is you two get out ahead of him and lay low for a little bit. Meanwhile, I'll lag behind and try to get rid of him." Johnny said.

"And how are you gonna stop him? Do a flip on your bike and hope it amazes him to death?" Sara said in a sarcastic tone.

"While that does seem like a full proof plan, I was thinking that I'd burn him and send him back to Hell…again."

"Oh right, cause you're the 'Ghost Rider'. Well, let me ask you this. If he's supposed to be imprisoned in Hell, how did he get out?" Sara finished.

"I honestly don't know. He REALLY ticked off his dad the last time he was here, the prison that was meant to hold him should have kept him there forever. I'll see if I can get the Rider to ask him next time we run into each other. That is of course if he listened to me at all."

"Will you be ok on your own?" Wolff asked.

"Should be, this ain't my first rodeo." Johnny took another sip of his water. "Moving on, what made you leave the military? Been dying to know the story since we left the old foundry."

"Like most of the people I served with, I answered to General Ironwood."

"Met him. Don't like him." Johnny said, remembering their altercation in Ozpin's office.

"You're not the only one. He's a hard man to get along with but overall, he's ok. A while back, a team of us were ordered to rescue a squad of fellow soldiers in the mountain ranges in Atlas and exterminate the Grimm that had cornered them. We went out there only to find one survivor and as we were getting him out, Grimm showed up and took out some of the men in my squad. We fought back but the man we were extracting was high priority, so Ironwood gave me an order: Get him to safety and let the men hold back the Grimm on their own. I wanted to stay and help my men, but the general demanded that I follow my orders. So, after trying to unsuccessfully convince him otherwise, I followed my orders and got the survivor back to the academy. Only to find out that when I got back, all the men had died…I left soon after that. I knew he didn't want to give those orders but the information the soldier had was too important so he against his own wishes, he made the call. He had a job to do but I couldn't do mine after that. I just couldn't shake it. After filing my papers, Ironwood understood and let me go, and I've been wandering around helping where I could ever since." Wolff finished.

"I'm sorry to hear that, man," Johnny said, while Sara looked somberly at Wolff.

"It's alright. They were great friends. Going down in a blaze of glory was all they ever wanted." Wolff then took a sip of his drink.

"What about you? What's your story?" Johnny asked Sara.

"Well, let's see. I was born outside the kingdoms, was adopted when I was a baby soon after, and I lived with my foster parents in Vale my whole life. Don't know anything about my real parents except for the fact that they died trying to keep me safe. My foster parents passed away when I was eighteen and I was on my own. I didn't want to be a Huntress or anything dangerous like that so I decided to open up a dust shop in town, until I was robbed by some weirdo in a bowler hat and some goons. They put me out of business and I had to make due working at some clothing store until that was destroyed by Grimm during the Breach. I tried making due being a vendor at the Vytal festival and you can kinda guess how that turned out. After that nightmare, that thing began following me and Wolff came to help. And that's kind of everything." Sara said.

"Damn, everyone's got a sad story." Johnny said. "Well then, let's drink to our sorrows." They all clanked their glasses and drank from their cups.

"It's almost dark, I should be heading out. I'll see you guys in the morning." Johnny said.

"Alright. Goodnight, buddy" Wolff said as Johnny departed.

Johnny opened the door and just before he stepped out, he saw giant black creatures chasing villagers and destroying the town. The creatures appeared to have been coming out of the ground like shadows, they had white faces and yellow eyes and teeth. One turned and looked directly at him, to which he responded by calmly closing the door and locking it. He went back to the table where Wolff and Sara had been sitting while the front door was banging loudly.

"We may have a problem." Johnny said quickly.

"What kind of problem?" Wolff asked.

After asked that, a villager was thrown through the window. Shadows moved across the walls and floor, until they rose from the ground and materialized into the creatures Johnny had seen.

"THAT kind of problem!" Johnny said grabbing Wolff and Sara.

They made their way through the destruction to try and get to the truck. They almost made it until they were completely surrounded by the shadow monsters they'd been avoiding.

"Hope you're not planning on leaving us so soon." They turned their direction to the strange feminine voice.

They saw a woman come up from behind the creatures with two other men at her side and they all had white hair. She sported what Johnny could describe as a somewhat identical iteration of Emerald's outfit but purple with dark green accents, purple gloves, and a purple cape that connected with a silver pin at the front.

Her associate wore a dark green jumpsuit with purple accents, obviously mirroring each other, and wore rectangular wraparound sunglasses.

The second man wore a very dark yellow jacket, black pants, bronze gauntlets and shin guards, as well as bronze neck armor.

"After all the effort we put in, we'd be hurt to see you go." The woman said with a smile.

"Man, why do the new ones always look terrible?" Johnny said under his breath. "Ok, I'll bite. Who are you people?" Johnny said in an annoyed tone.

"Since you asked, we're Hag and Troll." She said motioning her hand to herself and the man in green. "And this man here is Snowblind, the third wheel."

"Lovely names. As you can see we're in a bit of a rush so if you could just NOT do any of this and leave us and this town the hell alone, that'd be great." Johnny said.

"Sorry, but we're under orders to bring you and the girl to the boss. So we can do this nicely or we can have the Deathspawn take you by force. It's your choice." Troll said.

After hearing Deathspawn, Johnny knew who he was up against. He'd only heard of Deathwatch through reputation but never actually met him. All he knew was that Deathwatch was more than a match for the Rider and now that he's mixed up with Blackheart, that made Johnny even more worried.

"I didn't realize Deathwatch answered to anybody. You'd think he had enough when he left the father, you wouldn't think he'd be eager to take orders from the son." The trio was shocked when Johnny finished.

"You shouldn't have mentioned the boss, now he knows." Snowblind said.

"I didn't think he actually knew who any of them were." Troll answered back angrily.

"The both of you!" Hag said, silencing them. "Looks like you know more about us than we thought. You must be special." Hag finished.

"Obviously your boss didn't tell you anything about me. Kind of a dumb move to be honest."

"We know enough about you to know how to hurt you." Hag motioned her hand to which the Deathspawn responded by bringing an elderly woman to her. It was Johnny's friend Mariel.

"I think the two of you were friends." Hag said with a smile.

"Mariel!" Johnny yelled.

"Johnny, what the hell's going on? Why am I being held prisoner by fashion runway rejects?" Even in the face of danger, Mariel still cracked jokes.

"You're gonna be ok, Mariel. Just don't make them mad and I'll see if I can get you out of this." Johnny said.

"That's the spirit. You already know our demands, but it's up to you how this ends." Hag said.

"I'm sorry, man." Johnny said as he turned to Wolff. "We'll go with you, as long as no harm comes to anyone else."

"What?!" Wolff yelled.

"Wolff, don't. Just make sure these people don't get hurt." Sara said.

"Looks like we have a deal." Troll said.

"I am getting so sick of that word." Johnny said in an aggravated tone.

"It looks like the old lady gets to live so she can die later." Snowblind said as he let Mariel go.

"Yeah. Thanks for the heads up, Snowbird." Wolff said angrily.

"SnowBLIND!" Snowblind said in an annoyed tone.

Mariel walked over to Johnny and hugged him. After a moment, Sara touched Johnny's shoulder to signal that it was time to go.

"Johnny…" Johnny looked down at Mariel. "Never give in to anyone. Always stand up against those who hurt you and the good people around you."

"Wise words. But I don't think I'm getting out of this one, old friend. Be safe, Mariel."

"Goodbye Johnny, I'm glad to have called you my friend."

What Johnny thought was Mariel saying goodbye before he left quickly turned into the opposite. Mariel turned to the trio, picked up the rifle of the dead Huntsman in front of them, and fired at them. She nicked Hag in the shoulder, but Troll grabbed her by a tendril of shadow extending from his left arm and brought her over to them.

"No! Mariel!" Johnny yelled.

"Deal's off buddy! I'm gonna enjoy this." Troll said.

Hag place her hands on Mariel's shoulders while she was still in Troll's grip, and they both began to drain the life force from her until she was nothing but a husk.

"NOOOO!" Johnny screamed as he fell to his knees.

They tossed her aside and smiled as they looked at Johnny. Johnny was so overcome by grief that he didn't notice that the sun had set at that moment.

He could feel the Rider emerging but he was so overcome with anger that instead of fighting the transformation like he had done many times before, he let the spirit take over. He directed all of his focus and hate towards the trio, hoping that his own monster would burn the ones in front of him. He began to laugh which brought confusion to the trio, including Sara and Wolff.

"We must've broken this guy. Hope the boss doesn't get too mad." Troll said.

"This is getting pathetic. Snowblind, would you please fetch our guest?" Hag said.

Snowblind walked over and grabbed his shoulder, only to wince in pain from the intense heat he felt. Johnny grabbed his neck guard, pulled him down, and punched him. The force of the punch sent him flying through the wall of a nearby house. They all turned to Johnny to see something they didn't expect to see.

His eyes had disappeared including the surrounding skin to show an endless darkness into his eye cavities. Fire began to rise from below his neck and burned away any remaining skin he had left. When he stood up, the Rider had taken over and he looked directly at Hag and Troll.

Wolff and Sara were wide eyed at the sight. The transformation affirmed what Wolff already knew while Sara was finally convinced of Johnny's story.

"Well…that was unexpected, but nothing to worry over. Kill him." Hag ordered to the Deathspawn.

They moved in to do as they were ordered and piled onto the Rider to hold him down. Just as it appeared to have been working, he threw them all aside and waited for them to move again. One had rushed toward him but he quickly grabbed its arm and instantly burned the creature. They had all formed a circle around him and he chuckled at the sight. His chain launched out from his bag in the bed of the truck, caught it in his hand, and twirled it around him to burn all the Deathspawn around him. After all the creatures were gone he began walking toward Hag and Troll but before he could reach them, he was blinded along with Wolff and Sara by a bright white light. The Rider was punched and kicked by the one blinding him but he struggled to see who it was. The light faded after he was knocked to the ground. He looked up to see that the light had come from Snowblind's eyes.

"Now we know why he's called Snowblind." Wolff said, wiping his eyes.

"Now let's see if we can finish this dance by beating you into unconsciousness. Or maybe we'll just drag your skeletal corpse to the boss instead." Snowblind ended with a chuckle.

Snowblind prepared to blind him again, but the Rider quickly got back up and pushed his right index and middle fingers into Snowblind's eyes. He screamed as the smoke rose from where his eyes once were. Troll and Hag were shocked and stepped back a little.

The screaming stopped and Ghost Rider tossed Snowblind aside. Hag and Troll could see that his eyes were gone and his canals looked as if they were burning coals.

"I think his name now is just 'blind'." Ghost Rider said with a chuckle.

"We'll kill you for what you've done!" Troll yelled.

He wrapped his shadow tendril around the Rider and repeatedly smashed him against the two houses they were near. After pulling him out of the remains of one of the houses, Troll pulled the Rider towards him and Hag. She placed her hands on his face and the two of them began the same process they had done with Mariel. The Rider's flames began to die down and the two of them relished in the energy they were draining.

The Rider began laughing again as the flames reignited and the life force Hag and Troll were draining started to burn throughout their bodies. They tried to let go but found that they couldn't and the Rider began force feeding them excess energy. They screamed as the energy below their skin began to glow orange until it finally burned through them and reduced them to ash.

The Rider stood up and brushed off the dust particles that were once Hag and Troll from his jacket.

Wolff and Sara were standing there shocked by what they had just seen and couldn't move. The Rider sensed them and made his way towards Sara so that he could burn her for her "sins". Wolff noticed this and grabbed his weapon: an Atlesian rifle with an energy blast attachment reminiscent of a grenade launcher.

He ran and slid below the rider and hit him with an energy blast that sent him flying above the town until the blast exploded midair. The explosion sent the Rider into the woods outside of town and after Wolff saw that, he got back up to check on Sara.

"You alright?"

"Yeah…yeah, I'm good." Sara said through her shock.

They were startled by Johnny's bike erupting into flames and driving itself off of the bed of Wolff's truck and into the forest. They both got into the truck and Wolff drove after the Hellcycle, following the fire trail it left behind.

* * *

(Somewhere in the woods, the next morning)

Johnny woke up under a tree with a painful headache. After shaking himself awake, he looked around to see Wolff and Sara cooking a stew over a makeshift fire.

"Morning sunshine. How'd you sleep?" Wolff said.

"What happened?" Johnny asked through the pain.

"You went all firework and we 'put out the flames' so to speak."

"Define 'so to speak'."

"We caught up with you, 'Rider' you, and I ran you over with the truck until you passed out. Then when that didn't work, I just kept hitting you in the head with energy blasts from my rifle until you stopped moving."

Johnny looked over to the truck to see the massive dent in his front bumper surrounded by scorch marks. His bike was placed back onto the bed of the truck and his belongings with it.

"That explains the headache. After all these years of physical abuse, you'd think I'd be fine after last night." After saying that, he remembered the events from the previous night.

"Last night! Mariel and the others, are they…?" Johnny couldn't finish.

"The townsfolk are ok, save for a few. But Mariel…there's nothing anybody could do, except make sure that the ones who did it never did it to anyone else." Wolff said.

"Speaking of, who were those people? What were those shadow things?" Sara asked.

"The shadow monsters were the Deathspawn. Monsters born to serve Deathwatch, an ancient and powerful demon who can pass as human. Or so they say." Johnny said.

"So they say?" Sara asked.

"I've never met the guy, or those three from last night. They were new."

"So what? Blackheart had Deathwatch send his new employees to stop you?" Wolff asked.

"Yeah. But without telling them who or what I am? That doesn't make any sense. Unless…"

"Unless what?" Sara asked.

"Unless they were meant to fail. If you wanted a snatch and grab to succeed, wouldn't you tell the ones you were sending everything about the people they were meant to grab?" Johnny finished.

"They were a distraction." Wolff realized.

"Meant to keep us off their trail for whatever they're planning next." Johnny added.

"So what do we do now?" Sara asked.

"First, we eat. Second, we get back on their trail and figure out what they're up to. Third, we have 'fireball' here take them down." Wolff said handing a metal bowl of stew to Johnny.

"About that, what the hell was that thing? The fire, the chain, and the burning?" Sara asked in disbelief.

"Like I said before," Johnny raised his spoon. "I made a deal with the devil." Johnny began to eat soon after that.

* * *

(Unknown detention cell, somewhere in Vale)

A man laid down alone on the floor in the middle of his dark cell. His arms were restrained by the straitjacket he was wearing and only a porcelain doll the guards let him have to keep him company. Until he heard a voice call out from behind him.

"Max Pressman." The inmate got up at the sound of his name to see a tall and dark creature standing in front of him.

"You are quite the case, my friend. You lost everything during the attack on Vale and couldn't provide for your family afterwards. You lost your job, your home, and your sanity. You thought it'd be a good idea to kill your family to spare them of any further pain and you'd all be happy together without worry in the afterlife." Max just stared at Blackheart, trying to comprehend what was happening.

"You only succeeded with your wife of course. Unfortunately, your children will never be able to see you again after you murdered their mother in cold blood. The only thing you have of them now is your daughter's doll." Blackheart said, pointing to the doll across from Max.

"But, I can give you a second chance. I can give you power beyond your wildest dreams and freedom from this cell. I can ensure that no one will touch you, lock you up, or hold you back ever again. Do this one thing for me, and you are free to finish the job you started. Is that something you'd want?"

Max looked at the doll for the briefest moment until he looked back up at Blackheart and smiled. Blackheart chuckled realizing that there was nothing of his sanity left, it would make his job a little easier.

"All I ask for in return is your soul. Still want in?"

"Yeah, you can have it." Max said still grinning.

"Good." Blackheart finished.

He waved his hand to undo the straps to Max's straitjacket and grabbed the doll once his hands were free. Blackheart extended his hand and Max shook it.

Max inhaled sharply as he felt himself begin to change. His hand was being surrounded by darkness and it made its way up his arm and around his entire body as he screamed. The darkness enveloped the doll and absorbed it into his body. Once the darkness covered his head, the face of the porcelain doll began to replace his own. With the transformation nearly complete, Blackheart could only watch him scream and smugly say…

"It's a deal."


	8. San Venganza: Old Friends, New Threats

**Comic book characters introduced: Seer**. We changed some small details with this character. Not only did we give her a real name, but we made sure it fit the color rule from the show.

 **Comic book characters mentioned: Caretaker, Mind's Eye** and the **Blood.**

Thanks for the reviews, follows, and favorites. We hope we continue to do you guys proud.

* * *

(Dirt road in the direction of Vale)

Wolff drove the damaged truck along the road with Sara on the passenger side and Johnny in the back with his bike. It had been silent since they departed from Mariah, after Johnny paid his respects to his friend Mariel.

"How about we listen to some music?" Wolff asked as he turned on the radio.

 _"_ _Vale is still recovering from the damage from a few months ago. The CCT is still down and could be for quite some time. Repairs are still underway across the kingdom and evacuation efforts are proceeding uninterrupted. In other news, known murder Max Pressman has escape-"_

"On second thought, there's nothing good on anyway." Wolff said as he shut the radio off. The atmosphere was met with silence once again until Sara spoke up.

"So, Johnny hasn't said anything since we left."

"Would you after watching your friend die right in front of you?" Wolff asked.

"No, I suppose not." Sara shifted uncomfortably, which didn't go unnoticed by Wolff.

"I can tell you want to say something, so just come out with it."

"Ok, are we seriously not going to address that he can turn on fire?!" Sara shouted quietly to Wolff.

"We've had two conversations about this already, what did we not cover?"

"I meant you and me! After he killed those three weirdos he tried to kill us!"

"As Johnny explained it was the demon within him that did those things, including the trying to kill us bit."

"I don't care! You said that you were gonna keep me safe, what part of 'having some guy that could kill you and me when night falls' tagging along with us is safe?"

"The part where he's the only one on the planet that can get rid of the problem we have. None of my weapons worked on those Deathspawn shadow things from the village, and yet he burned them all in a second. Imagine what he could do against that Blackheart thing giving you trouble." After hearing that, Sara looked at Johnny at the back of the truck and shifted back in her seat.

"Alright, fine. But I'm still not comfortable with all this."

"I don't think he is either." Wolff said as he looked at Johnny from his rear view mirror.

"Where are we going anyway?" Sara asked.

"Johnny said he's got a friend that could help us track down Blackheart and anyone helping him…or it, I guess. Still don't know how to address the guy or demon." Wolff explained.

"Well I hope we get there soon, I can't stand being in this truck any longer." Sara said.

The engine began to make noise and the truck began to slow down until it came to a stop. The damage of running the Ghost Rider over and over again finally took its toll on the vehicle. After they all got out and checked on the damage they knew what the next step was, walking.

"At least you won't be in the truck anymore." Wolff said with a smile.

"Please, just stop talking." Sara said with her palm over her face in frustration.

* * *

(Two hours later, nightclub in Vale)

After sneaking into the kingdom, Johnny parked his bike outside the club after walking it for two hours. Johnny took a deep breath and walked in with the others following behind him. After a moment they saw a young woman sitting at the bar in the empty club. She had black hair and was wearing what he would describe as a blue version of Yang's brown jacket and jean shorts.

"Sorry, we're closed." The woman then turned to them. "Come back in a few hour-" She stopped as soon as she saw Johnny.

"Hey." Johnny said.

The group's attention was directed to her left eye, which had a black tattoo of a saw-like shape. At the top the 'blades' curved to the left while the bottom ones curved to the right.

"No. No, no, no. Whatever this is, no." She began to walk away.

"Good to see you too Seer." Johnny said.

"Some friend. Anyway, Seer?" Sara asked.

"Her real name is lost to time, no one knows, not even the ancients of days past." Johnny said in a theatrical voice.

"It's Cyan Cahun." Seer said.

"You let me down, man. I built you up, made you sound cool, and you just let me down." Johnny said.

"What do you want, Rider?" Seer asked irritatedly with crossed arms.

"Help, like the old days."

"Help? You mean like how you helped those scumbags in Vacuo or those innocents that got in the way?" Sara and Wolff saw how Johnny became visibly saddened by the words that were spoken.

"I'm not asking you to help me, or Zarathos. I'm asking you to help them." Johnny pointed to Wolff and Sara.

"What's going on with them?"

"Well, I'm Wolff and this is Sara. Thanks for asking," Wolff said sarcastically. "and we've got Blackheart coming after her. THAT'S what we've got going on."

"Blackheart? I thought he was imprisoned indefinitely." Seer said in a worried tone.

"That's what I thought too but something must have freed him. To make matters worse, he's gotten Deathwatch involved too." Johnny said.

"Wow, you're just hitting me with all kinds of good news today."

"Ok, I'm obviously missing the plot here." Sara said. "Can someone explain to me who you are and how you're going to help us?" Seer looked to Johnny, which meant that he was the one going to tell her.

"Cyan, or Seer as we like to call her, is…" She gave Johnny a dirty look before he continued. "was a part of an ancient order known as the Blood. They were a group of mystical beings that were in charge of protecting an ancient artifact, whose symbol happens to be the logo for the club here." Johnny pointed to the symbol above the bar.

"Huh. What is it?" Sara asked.

"It's the symbol of the Medallion of Power. But, that's a story for another time." Johnny said.

"This place, which we called The Nightclub, was our base of operations. That is until pretty much everyone died off thanks to Mephisto and the creatures he failed to keep in his realm." Seer said.

"You called a nightclub 'The Nightclub'?" Wolff asked.

"Sure, there's not much thought into the name, but people know what it is at least and it serves its purpose well enough." Seer said. "And onto the 'how' of helping you, what do you need me to do?"

"Deathwatch kept us distracted and we lost Blackheart's trail. We need you to help us find him." Johnny said.

"What's in it for me?" Seer asked.

"The world we're living in continues on its natural course of non-hellish destruction and chaos?" Seer began to laugh at that.

"Haven't you been paying attention? The world is already in chaos. Destruction everywhere, panic around every corner, and no hope in sight. Sorry, but I can't help you this time. Good luck with Blackheart." Seer turned around and began to leave.

"What was it you said to me, back in Vacuo when I rescued Caretaker from Mind's Eye?" Seer stopped and turned towards Johnny who walked up to her.

"What were your exact words?" Seer sighed after that.

"That I owed you one."

"Well, time to collect on my debts." Johnny said.

"Fine." She said, angrily.

"Wow. She wasn't willing to help us before and then he pulls that and suddenly she's on board?" Wolff whispered to Sara.

"The Blood have a code of honor, even to those who they don't wish to help." Seer answered to Wolff, who wasn't as quiet as he thought.

"Sorry." Wolff said.

"It's alright. Now, shall we begin?" Seer asked.

"Begin what?" Sara asked.

"Finding Blackheart." Seer answered.

"How are we going to do that?" Wolff asked.

"We don't do anything. She'll look to find him and determine a location." Johnny said.

"And how is she gonna do that?" Wolff asked.

"I may have forgotten to mention that she has the power of clairvoyance among other abilities." Wolff and Sara looked to Seer who was smiling smugly. "What? I said the Blood were mystical."

"Do you have an object tied to him I can use?" Seer asked.

Johnny held out Hag's silver pin that she had connected to her cape. It was the only thing that survived after she and Troll disintegrated. Seer grabbed it and closed her eyes. When she opened them, her tattooed eye was glowing yellow as she saw events of the past.

She saw through Hag's point of view as she stood before Blackheart.

* * *

(Seer's vision)

All that could be seen was a cliffside, whatever was beyond it was blocked by Blackheart and Deathwatch.

"Do you wish for power? Do you want the power to take the lives of those in your way? Do you and your partners want to be unstoppable?" Blackheart asked.

"Yes! We want that power…more than anything." Hag said.

Blackheart looked to Deathwatch who nodded in affirmation.

"Thanks to your new boss's go ahead, looks like we have a deal."

Blackheart extended his hands to which Hag, Troll, and Snowblind took and began to transform. Hag's gaze shifted as she writhed in pain on the ground. Troll and Snowblind's hair was turning white including her own. Hag saw past Blackheart and saw houses residing on the nearby cliffs.

It was Mistral.

The vision began to blur and ended in a flash of light.

* * *

Seer had a look of worry on her face that everyone in the room saw.

"What is it? What did you see?" Johnny asked.

"I saw Blackheart with Deathwatch and three other people with white hair."

"Sounds like our friends in Mariah." Wolff said.

"He changed them, gave them powers, through a deal." Seer finished.

"A deal? You're sure?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah."

"What's so special about that?" Sara asked to a worried Johnny.

"Demons have been known to make deals with humans and Faunus. Offering what they want in exchange for their soul, but nothing like granting supernatural abilities to them. The only one who could do that is…?" Johnny waited for someone to answer.

"Mephisto." Wolff finished.

"Correct. But the only power he was able to grant was the power of the Ghost Rider. From what Seer is saying, Blackheart is not only able to make deals which was something he was never able to do before, but he can now grant anyone with a wide variety of abilities." Johnny finished.

"Which is extremely bad news for all of us." Seer said. "Who knows what he could unleash on this world. The possibilities are endless now, it seems."

"Could you see where they were in the vision? A clue to where they might have gone?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah, they made the deal in Mistral. Must have found those three among the 'criminal for hire' areas of the kingdom."

"Can you teleport us there?" Johnny asked.

"I'm sorry, teleport?" Sara asked.

"Mystical, remember?" Johnny said.

"Yeah. But given the gravity of what you're up against, I won't be coming with you. I'm not gonna end up like the rest of the Blood. I open a portal to Mistral for you and then I'm done, understand?"

"Completely." Johnny said.

Seer held out her left hand and her eye began to glow yellow as well as the energy surrounding her hand. A ring of yellow energy formed and through it was the cliffside houses of Mistral.

As the trio were about to walk through it, a shadowy figure came up behind them. Seer saw it and began to lose concentration on the portal. The figure shoved all three of them into the direction of the opening. Johnny accidently knocked Seer through the portal and just before it closed, the figure flew through it.

* * *

(Unknown location)

They fell onto the grass in a forest they were unfamiliar with. Sara was the first to look around and was astonished by what just happened.

"Oh my god! We just teleported, we actually walked through a portal to a different part of the planet!" Sara could barely contain her excitement.

"Yep, amazing, can hardly contain myself." Johnny said sarcastically through the pain. "What was that?"

"I don't know. This shadow thing pushed all of us through the portal, I must have lost concentration and landed us somewhere near Mistral at least." Seer said.

"Well, whatever it is it looks like it's gone now." Wolff said as he looked around for it.

"Yeah, well stay on guard. I can't deal with any more surprises today." Johnny said.

"Hello?" They heard a voice say from the tree line.

They all turned into the direction of the voice, battle ready and waiting. A figure walked out from the bushes and saw them all, and then they focused on Johnny.

"Johnny?" Said the feminine figure.

Johnny was completely astounded by the person in front of him. It was a true blast from the past.

"Ruby?"


	9. San Venganza: Reverend's Unholy Ghost

Hello everyone, and yes, we're alive. We took a bit of a longer break than we were expecting but for all intents and purposes, we're back. And to make it up to you, we wanted to give you the biggest chapter we've done for this story so far. Some things are resolved in this chapter as well as set things up for the next story arc after this one. We hope we make you proud, excited, and happy with this chapter. As always, thank you all for supporting us.

 **Comic book characters introduced: Wallow** , **Reverend Styge** , and **Centurious**.

* * *

(Unknown forest, Continent of Anima)

After they introduced themselves to the young Huntress, the group followed Johnny and Ruby through the woods while they talked. Ruby talked about what her and her group had been up to the past few months while Johnny made sure not to mention the current predicament that he and his friends were in, so as to not worry Ruby more than she already was. They made their way through the trees and into a grassy clearing where Ruby and the others set up camp with their sleeping bags laid on the brown patch in the grass.

"Here we are. Home sweet…dirt." Ruby ended with a halfhearted chuckle.

"Love what you've done with the place." Johnny said with a smile. "Where are the others?"

"Jaune and Pyrrha are scouting ahead for us while Ren and Nora should be back about-" Bushes rustled as two figures stepped out from the patch of forest opposite them. "-now." Ruby finished.

Ren and Nora saw Ruby and the others and Nora gave an enthusiastic wave. They began walking over to greet the newcomers.

"Hello there! And who are all these peop…" Nora stopped when she saw Johnny among them, clearly remembering the last time they saw him.

"Uh, hey guys." Johnny waved awkwardly.

Ren ran up next to Nora and they both drew their weapons on Johnny, preparing for the worst. In response, Wolff aimed his weapon at the both of them.

"Yeah, that's the response I thought I'd get." Johnny said dejectedly.

"Guys! Put your weapons down, it's Johnny! Nice, friendly, non-threatening, teddy bear Johnny." Ruby said. Ren and Nora still had their weapons drawn.

"Teddy bear?" Johnny asked.

"I'm trying to help you here!" Ruby whispered to him. "I told you the flame stuff only happens at night and last I checked, it's not even noon. So can we please put those away?"

After a brief moment of hesitation and exchanging of looks, Ren, Nora, and Wolff holstered their weapons. Johnny cautiously walked and stood in front of them.

"Um…look I know you're scared of me. Believe it or not, I am too. But I'll do everything I can to make sure that none of you are put in harm's way because of me, I promise." Johnny said.

Nora slowly walked in front of him and after a moment, she hugged him. Johnny was slightly stunned but returned the hug.

"It's really good to see you!" Nora said, still hugging him.

"It's good to see you too." Johnny said with a smile. He looked to Ren and they exchanged a nod to each other. Nora let go soon after.

"So, who are these people? Are they your friends? Who is she?" Nora said pointing at Seer. "Ooh, that tattoo is really awesome! What does it mean? Ooh, where'd you get that cool gun?" She said, turning her attention to Wolff. "Does it turn into anything? Where'd you get all that gear? Are you a Huntsman? I mean, you look like a Huntsman but you carry yourself like a soldier. It's very manly."

"Nora." Ren said, snapping Nora out of her question frenzy.

"I like her." Wolff said with a smile.

"You like anybody who feeds your ego." Johnny said.

"….That's not untrue." Wolff said.

After their exchange they heard a loud smack coming from the tree line.

"Ow!" They could make out that it was a male voice.

"I'm sorry." They heard from a female voice.

"Jaune and Pyrrha are back." Johnny said. The particular exchanging of words was usually associated to Jaune and Pyrrha.

They made their way through the bushes and stepped out to see the entire group.

"Hey guys!" Jaune said.

He helped Pyrrha get through the bushes and they saw why. Pyrrha was using a hands fee crutch for her right leg after Cinder shot an arrow through it months before.

"Johnny! You're here." Pyrrha said enthusiastically before hugging him.

"Uh, yeah. I'm here." Johnny said, somewhat perplexed.

"It's good to see you. We thought you would've been helping out in Vale." Jaune said.

"Well, I kinda needed to leave after the whole thing. You know how it is…right?" Johnny said.

"Yeah, you did kinda lose your job after that." Jaune said.

"Yeah…" Johnny said, giving Jaune a confused stare before turning his attention to Pyrrha. "I see you're healing up nicely."

"Slowly, but surely. Aura can only do so much." Pyrrha said.

"Too true. Anyway, these are my friends-" Johnny was interrupted by a cough from Seer.

"Right, these are my friends plus um…temporary business associate. This is Sara Aileana, this is Michael Wolff but we just call him Wolff, and that grump is Cyan Cahun but we just call her Seer." Johnny finished, earning a not so happy look from Seer.

"Well, it's certainly nice to meet all of you." Pyrrha said with a smile.

"While you guys get acquainted, I'm gonna go talk with these three." Johnny said pointing to Ruby, Ren, and Nora. They began to talk once they were a good short distance away.

"You didn't tell them about me, did you?" Johnny asked.

"What?…w-what makes you say that?" Ruby asked with a guilty expression.

"The fact that they welcomed me with open arms after these two pointed guns at me." He said pointing to Ren and Nora

"Ruby said that it was your secret and that you should be the one to tell them if you ever felt the need to." Ren said.

"That's not all, is it?"

"Pyrrha was really freaked out by the whole thing. Telling her that one of our friends killed a whole bunch of bad people and almost killed Ruby, Weiss, and her wouldn't have made her feel better." Nora said. "But we do know that it was that freaky floaty thing we saw go into you that did that though. Just making sure you knew that we knew that." Nora said quickly.

"And Jaune?"

"After everything, he's gotten understandably protective of Pyrrha. If she's worried, he's worried, if she's scared, he's ready to act. If we had run into you again, which we did, he wouldn't have been too psyched to see you." Ruby said.

"And that would've more than likely ended up with him drawing a sword on me. Well, I appreciate the effort. Thanks." Johnny said. "By the way, loving the new looks. I'll admit that I miss the old ones, but these suit you just as nicely." He said gesturing to their outfits (Outfits from Volume 4).

"Thanks, you're looking…exactly the same." Ruby said, struggling to find a difference.

"Thanks." Johnny said with a monotone expression. "Same could be said about Jaune, but I see Pyrrha's following your lead though."

Pyrrha was wearing a light brown hooded cloak that ended above her knees which was closed at the front by a red sash, with the knot on her left hip. A dark brown stripe ran from around the lining of the hood down to the front with the cuffs of her sleeves looking similar, separated from the light brown by a bronze colored vine pattern with leaves. Under the cloak she wore a sleeveless dark brown turtleneck and tan form fitting cargo pants with dark brown mid-calf lace up boots.

On her back was her shield Akoúo̱ as well as a dirty and crude bronze weapon that resembled the now destroyed Miló. The new weapon was Psíthyros (pronounced see-thee-ros) (Miló: Greek for speak, Psíthyros: Greek for whisper).

"What's with the hood?" Johnny asked.

"Well…after what happened with Penny, the world doesn't exactly have the best opinion of her. She wears the hood so no one recognizes her and makes our journey more difficult." Ruby said.

"That's rough, I'm sorry guys." Johnny then placed his hand on Ruby's shoulder. "I miss Penny too." Ruby gave him a somber smile.

"Hate to interrupt but can I talk with you for a sec?" Seer asked Johnny. They stepped away soon after.

"What is it?" Johnny asked.

"I can't open a portal." Seer said.

"What?"

"Ever since that thing threw us through the one I opened, I haven't been able to conjure up another one. I haven't lost my magic, I can still materialize the energy through my hands, which means…" Seer left the conversation open for Johnny to answer.

"Which means there's something very dark nearby suppressing all non-dark magic in the area." Johnny sighed.

"So we find the ghost thing, take it down, drop you off, and I get to go home."

"Nice to see you have your priorities straight." Johnny said sarcastically.

"Any way you can sense the dark magic and lead us to it?" Seer asked.

"I can try. I haven't been able to do it since the Rider completely went off the rails."

"Well, you do that while I talk to 'crutch' over there. She seems nice." Seer then walked over in Pyrrha's direction.

"You're all heart, Seer." Johnny said with a sarcastic smile.

After she left, Johnny closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He tried to connect with the Rider's power to seek out negativity and 'sin' as the spirit would put it. After almost a minute of struggling, he made a connection. In his vision he saw a skull in flames screaming at him, which made him open his eyes and stumble back. He looked around and saw Jaune and after a moment he saw memories of his lies. He saw the same with everyone but when he looked at Pyrrha, he saw the memory of Beacon Tower. He saw and felt Pyrrha in a moment of desperation wanting to kill Cinder to protect the kingdom, Nora's greed at the expense of others, and Ruby's ignorance that almost cost her team RWBY.

He turned away before he looked at anyone else, but he felt something when he looked in the direction east of them. He felt anguish, despair, hatred, greed, and darkness not too far down the road. He found the source of the dark magic.

"Hey, you ok?" Ruby asked.

When Johnny looked at her, he couldn't see any of her past indiscretions or 'sins'. The connection had faded.

"Yeah, just…felt something dark."

"What was it?"

"I don't know. Whatever it is, it's down that road."

"Ok, we'll come with you." Ruby said with a smile.

"I appreciate it, but I wouldn't ask you to come along. I don't want you to get involved with my world."

"What are you talking about? We already have. We've fought a power hungry maiden and saw a demon rip apart the White Fang." Ruby said, pointing to Johnny.

"Besides, I wasn't asking to come along with you. We're going, period."

"Yes ma'am." Johnny said, getting the message.

* * *

(Fifteen minutes later)

"Wow. So they tried to turn Pyrrha into one of the Maidens, talk about pressure." Johnny said as they continued walking.

"Speaking of, the night the tower fell, I remember your 'other half' saying the word maiden before facing Cinder. Any history there?" Ruby asked.

"The Maidens have been around for thousands of years and the Rider's been around for a bit longer than them. When they came into existence, it was only a matter of time when they'd eventually run into him. Because they were good and he was chaotic, they clashed on more than a few occasions. Neither side has killed the other no matter how hard they try, so he basically had a score to settle that night."

"And here I thought he saved Pyrrha because it was the right thing to do." They both chuckled after that.

They followed the dirt path all the way down to the end and were slightly surprised by what they came across. A church in the middle of the woods, painted in the brightest white, and a luscious garden with different colored flowers. They saw a man who appeared to be the church's pastor walking from the garden with a basket full of flowers. He looked up and noticed them all standing on the other side of the fence and smiled.

"I don't charge an entry fee in case you're wondering." The pastor ended with a chuckle. With that, they opened the white picket gate and entered.

He was a middle aged man, wearing black robes with a clerical collar, short brown hair brushed to the left, and sporting a moustache.

"Our apologies, we were just taken back. It's not a common sight to see a structure like this in the woods not damaged by the Grimm." Ren said.

"That's quite alright. It is a rare sight indeed, and I'm proud to call it home." He laughed again. He noticed Johnny had not entered with the rest of them and was perplexed by this.

"Young man, you can walk on through. I don't bite, I'll leave that to the Grimm."

"Yeah, sure thing." Johnny said.

Johnny closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and walked through the gate. He opened his eyes and saw that nothing had happened. His surprise was beginning to cause confusion in everyone.

"Yes, well um…suppose introductions are in order." The pastor said.

"Of course. I am Lie Ren, and this is Ruby, Nora, Jaune, and Pyrrha. Behind us are Sara, Wolff, Seer, and Johnny." Ren said, finishing his long introduction.

"Pleasure to meet you all. I am Reverend Styge, preacher here at the Church of Resurrection."

"Church of Resurrection?" Jaune asked.

"Metaphorical resurrection I'm afraid. It's more on the lines of spiritual resurrection. Rejuvenation of a person's hopes, dreams, and humanity." He said walking inside the church. "Come on in, I could sure use the company. It's been a while since I've had visitors." They all obliged and headed inside.

"You all seem like traveling Huntsman and Huntresses, am I right?" Styge asked as he placed the basket on a table near the door.

"That's right. We're traveling to Mistral from Vale." Pyrrha said.

"My, that's quite a long journey. This mission must be quite important to travel such a great distance during such trying times."

"Yes, very important." Ruby said.

"Excuse me, Reverend Styge was it? What exactly do you do here, if you don't mind me asking?" Johnny asked.

"Not at all. I provide sanctuary, both physically and spiritually, perform my sermons even if there is no one here to listen, take care of the church, my living area, the garden, and the graves here."

"Anything else?"

"No, that's all. Were you expecting more?" The reverend asked.

"Nope, just curious." Johnny said before making his way to the altar.

While the others sat and talked with the reverend, Ren walked over to Johnny and stood next to him.

"You've been acting strange ever since we got here. Something we should know about?" Ren asked.

"Ren, what do you know about negative spirits and churches?" Johnny asked, giving Ren a moment to contemplate.

"Well, it has been said that negative entities cannot set foot in churches or hallowed ground."

"Right, and what do you see wrong with this picture?" Johnny asked and Ren suddenly realized Johnny's point.

"You're housing a demonic entity and you're standing inside of a church."

"Correct. I may not be a negative spirit but Zarathos is. Like a symbiotic organism with its host, what hurts him hurts me, and I should have been repelled too. Yet, here I am in the middle of a church with barely an itch to bother me. Also, look at this place. It's in the middle of a monster infested forest and not one scratch to be seen."

"So, this place is unholy?" Ren asked.

"That seems like an understatement. Look at the coat rack over there." Ren turned his gaze to the coats hanging by the door. "All those coats and shoes, some of them women's mind you, and yet he said we're the first people he's seen in a while. If people had left, wouldn't they have taken their clothes, let alone their shoes?" Ren turned to him with a worried look.

"That's not all. Look at the altar and tell me what you see?"

Ren looked at the stone table and didn't notice anything at first, until he shifted his gaze to the corner end. He noticed dry red droplets of something, but didn't need much guessing as to what it could be.

"Blood." Ren said.

They both looked over to see Styge talking about something with Nora who was listening intently. Ren went to walk over but was grabbed by the arm by Johnny.

"We have to tell them." Ren stated.

"We will, but we can't tell them with the pastor right there. And we can't whisper to them what's going on and have them try to carry on a conversation with him. Let's be honest, neither of them can act let alone lie very well." Johnny said.

"So, we wait till we leave to tell them?" Ren asked.

"Yes, I'll make an excuse to say we can't stay and leave right now. Just don't say anything and don't give him any weird looks, we don't know what this guy is capable of and we don't want to tip him off that we know anything. Got it?" Johnny asked, after receiving a nod from Ren they both walked over to the group.

"You're a very kindred spirit Ms. Valkyrie. People need such a thing in dark times like these." Styge said.

"Yes, a true light in the darkness." Johnny said to Styge with a fake smile.

"Are you alright, young man? You seemed uneasy earlier." Styge asked.

"Yeah, I was just unsure of this place. Glad to see I was mistaken."

"That's a rare sight. He never admits he's wrong." Wolff said.

"But as much as we'd like to stay, I'm afraid we have to go. We have missions to get back to that need our attention." Johnny said.

"He's right. Sorry we couldn't stay longer." Ruby said.

"It's quite alright. I wish you all safe travels, and I hope you come back to visit sometime." Styge said.

They all said their goodbyes and departed the church. As the reverend watched the large group leave from the doorway, a shadowy figure materialized next to him.

"So, that's the group you talked about? They hardly seem like battle hardened warriors. Nevertheless, I'll uphold my end of the bargain as long as you uphold yours." Styge said.

"It's why Blackheart sent me. I scratch you and your boss's back, you do the same for us. I get you your sacrifice and you get me my kids. Did you choose which one you're going to need?" Wallow asked.

"Yes, I did. Bring me the bubbly orange-haired girl, Ms. Valkyrie. She'll be perfect."

* * *

(Ten minutes later)

"A-are you sure?" Nora asked in disbelief.

"Yes, everything pointed to the same conclusion. The church is the source of the dark magic." Ren explained.

"So, what do we do?" Ruby asked.

" **We** don't do anything. **I** will go down there at night and…solve the problem." Johnny said dejectedly.

"You're gonna let the Rider out? Are you crazy?" Seer asked.

"I don't see you stepping up to solve the problem." Johnny said angrily.

"Uh guys, maybe we should be a little quieter?" Ruby said looking in the direction of Jaune and Pyrrha.

"I'll make the excuse to scout ahead, go down there, wait for nightfall, and deal with the evil preacher since Seer doesn't want to help as usual." Johnny said.

"I don't want to help? I opened a portal for you so you could save the world. So that was what, not helping?"

"As I recall, you didn't want to get involved. People have died, people could die, and all you care about is doing nothing and wasting your days in that club of yours. And need I remind you that this entire time we've been talking you haven't even volunteered to help with Styge?" Johnny said. Seer said nothing to which Johnny sighed in exhaustion.

"Unless anybody has a better idea, I'm gonna go back to the church before night falls. None of you are coming with me due to what the Rider might do to you if you decide to join me. Are we clear on that?" Johnny asked, to which everyone nodded silently. "Alright then. Since we've got hours until dark, I guess we should find a way to kill time. Any ideas?"

"I know, we could sit around, tell each other stories, and roast marshmallows over the fire." Seer said in a sarcastic tone.

* * *

(Six hours later)

Seer sat miserably near the fire as everyone told stories. She was pulled from her train of thought when Johnny leaned in from her left.

"Want a marshmallow?" Johnny asked with a grin, bringing his marshmallow on a stick up to Seer's face.

"I hate you." Seer said.

"I know." He said, still smiling.

"So there I stood, on the three hundred foot mountain." Nora said.

"It was four stories tall." Ren refuted.

"I summoned a great thunderstorm to draw forth its lightning so that I could use the power of the gods."

"She harnessed lightning from a synthetic storm using her semblance."

"I fired the power through my hand and toward the mighty beast."

"She channeled the electricity into the grenades in her launcher, and the 'beast' was a sniper from an opposing team during a match."

"Do I cut into your stories?" Nora asked irritatedly.

"No, because I don't exaggerate them."

"True, but I make them sound more interesting." She said with a smile before eating her marshmallow.

"That you do." Wolff said. "I gotta say I like how you tell stories, makes it sound like we're really there."

"Thank you. See? At least someone appreciates my stories." Nora said.

"I didn't say they weren't appreciated, I said they were exaggerated."

"Do you have any other stories?" Wolff asked, waiting in suspense.

"Yeah, I got one. There was a boy who dreamed of greatness, but those dreams were dashed when his mommy left him behind. His dad was heartbroken and took his boy to Atlas where he became a soldier. A soldier who not only let his father down, but let his men die in disgrace. Knowing full well that it was all **his** fault." Nora said.

Everyone was completely shocked at Nora's story and the tone she had. Wolff was stunned that she knew about his life and that she had torn it apart in front of everyone to hurt him.

"I'm sorry, a little too close to home?" Nora asked Wolff with a smile.

Wolff looked into her eyes and for whatever reason, he felt fear overtake him. He saw the worst parts of his life flash before him and was completely paralyzed by the sudden influx of emotion.

"Nora! That's enough." Ren said sternly.

"What's gotten into you?" Jaune asked.

"Oh look, the boy who lied shocked to hear the truth. Tell me, are you scared of losing her?" She said looking at Pyrrha. "Scared she'll abandon you again? And what about you?" She directed at Ruby. "Scared you'll lose them like you lost Penny or are you scared of having them give up on you like your sister?"

"That's enough Nora! What are you doing? This isn't like you at all." Ren said. She turned to him with a sad expression.

"What's the matter, Ren?" Nora said.

After asking that, her eyes turned black and a black substance began to pour out her eyes and mouth to the complete shock of everyone.

"Do you not love me anymore?" She said with the substance still oozing away.

"Ren, get away from her!" Johnny said, pulling him back.

"What's going on?! What's happening to her?!" Ren shouted.

"It's ectoplasm, the manifestation of the hatred of a spirit. She's possessed." Seer said.

"Good job, you deserve a medal. Hope you do a much better job protecting it than your 'brothers in Blood' did with that medallion." The spirit said.

"Wait a minute. Your voice, I've heard it before. You're Max Pressman! I followed your trial, you're a monster!" Sara said.

"You've got brains cause you're right on all accounts. The only difference is that I'm a **real** monster now. You can all me Wallow."

"Let Nora go!" Ren shouted.

"Sorry, not sorry, but I can't do that. She's needed for something important and that helps me get what I want in return." Wallow said.

"What's that?" Jaune asked angrily.

"Sorry kids, not spoiling the story. Catch you all later."

Wallow made to leave but Seer fired an energy blast from her hands in front of the possessed Nora's feet. Wallow drew Magnhild in launcher form but it was knocked away by Seer and she grabbed Nora's arm which had splotches of ectoplasm covering it.

As soon as she came into contact with the substance, Seer began to have a vision.

* * *

(Hill overlooking the church, not too long ago)

"Here they are, as promised." Styge said, presenting two children. A boy and a girl.

"Now, bring the girl back to the church and our business will be concluded."

"Daddy, please…" The girl said.

"Be quiet. Now, bring me my sacrifice." Styge said, and Wallow soon left.

* * *

Seer was too distracted by the vision that it left her open for Wallow to strike. She was sent flying over the group and hit the ground behind them. Johnny launched a chain that magically manifested from inside his sleeve and it wrapped around Wallow's arm. When Wallow looked at him, he saw that his eyes had disappeared. Johnny's eyes soon came back and he shook his head in discomfort, and Wallow began to laugh.

"Looks like you forgot that you have no power in the sunlight, Rider." Wallow laughed as he unwrapped the chain from around his arm, and then whipped it back at Johnny to knock him back.

Ruby, Ren, and Jaune drew their weapons and charged in ready to fight. When they got close, Wallow left Nora's body and knocked them all back with a swing of his arm. Wallow caught the unconscious Nora before she hit the ground and then turned his attention back to the group.

The form in front of them was like a specter from a horror story. A floating black form with a tail instead of legs, the fingers formed claws, and the only non-dark part of him was his face. The face of his daughter's porcelain doll replaced his own and was cracked diagonally from the top left down to the bottom right.

"Be seeing you." Wallow said before he and Nora dissolved into shadow and sped away.

"Nora!" Ren shouted after her.

"What do we do?!" Pyrrha asked.

"We go after her." Jaune said.

"Where do you think he took her?" Ruby asked.

"The church." Seer said, holding her head as she got back up.

"We can deal with Styge later." Johnny said.

"No, he's working with Styge. He's gonna give him Nora in exchange for two children, a boy and a girl. One of them called him 'daddy'."

"That's Michael and Melissa, his two children. Max, or Wallow, murdered his wife but he was arrested before he could do the same to them. They were taken out of Vale with an evacuation party to keep them safe and away from their father." Sara said.

"They're on a hill near the church." Seer said.

"Look, the sun's about to set and I can't be at two places at once. Cyan, please help us." Johnny said. Seer took a deep breath and spoke.

"I'll take Wallow, you take Styge. Once Styge's magic is gone, I can open a portal and get you where you need to go." Seer said.

They were then distracted by the sound of whimpering and saw that it was Wolff. They rushed over to see what was wrong.

"Hey, what's wrong man?" Johnny asked.

"I'm so scared. My mind's collapsing in on itself and I can't escape." Wolff said shaking.

"Let me try something." Seer snapped her fingers, which sparked with yellow energy, in front of Wolff's face and he began to act normally again.

"I knew it was something mystical." Seer said.

"Wolff, think back, what do you remember that triggered this?" Johnny asked

"I um…I looked into its eyes, they glowed red for a split second, and then I saw everything I was ever afraid of. What the hell was that?"

"Fear Induction: the ability to induce fear so that he could feed upon it. It's an old but deadly power that's not uncommon amongst demons, but he is…something else." Johnny said.

"Either way, it's not your problem. You need to focus on Styge." Seer said. After a second, Johnny and Seer helped Wolff up.

"Alright, it looks like we're gonna have to split up into two groups. I'll take Ren, Ruby, and Jaune while Seer takes Wolff, Sara, and Pyrrha." Johnny finished.

"No. Wherever Pyrrha goes, I go." Jaune said.

"Jaune, I need Pyrrha with Seer. This is important."

"So risking her life is important to you?!"

"We're all risking our lives!"

"I'm not losing her again!"

"We'll lose Nora and those kids if we keep this up!"

"Quiet!" Pyrrha interjected. "Can I please speak for myself?!" After a moment, Johnny nodded and she turned to face Jaune.

"I know you're worried about me." She placed her hand on Jaune's face. "But there are children's lives at stake."

"So is Nora's." Jaune said.

"And I want to help get her back. She's our friend, our family, but I have to help them. And you, Ruby, and Ren are the only ones I trust to help her. Besides, you'd be saying the same thing if our roles were reversed. You're never one to turn down people in need, especially children."

Jaune smiled at that. He drew closer and the two of them shared a quick kiss before resting on each other's foreheads.

"Come back to me." Jaune said.

"Same to you." Pyrrha then stepped away and stood in front of Johnny.

"It was you. That night on the tower, fighting Cinder, bringing back Amber, that was you wasn't it? The Ghost Rider." Pyrrha finished. Johnny gripped his chains and nodded yes.

"That thing, the Spirit of Vengeance, it's a monster. I worry that he'll hurt them." Pyrrha said looking to the others. "But, he saved Ruby, Amber, and although it wasn't intentional, he saved me too. So, I also have hope that he'll do the right thing."

"You make it sound like he will." Johnny said.

"It's called having faith. And even if he becomes a problem, you can take him on. You have more power than you realize, even if you don't believe it." Johnny smiled at that.

Over in the distance was Qrow, watching all the events unfold from a nearby hill.

"I should've gone down there." Qrow said.

"If you did, that thing would've killed you." Said the hooded figure standing next to him.

"Yeah, well that **thing** has their friend. You can stay here if you like, but I'm gonna go down there and help."

"Unless you want 'skull guy' to burn you before you offer any kind of help, I'd suggest keeping back for now."

"He's down there?" He asked.

"Oh my god…there's only one person down there in bike leathers, it's freaking obvious." She said in frustration.

"The janitor? Huh, you think you know someone." He said. "So what now?"

"Like I said, keep back for now. If it looks like they really need help at any point, we'll lend a hand."

"I don't like that plan, Amber." Qrow protested.

"Neither do I." She lowered her hood and Qrow looked upon her scarred face. "But it beats dying, I should know." She said.

Ruby, Johnny, and the others prepared themselves for the battles they were soon about to fight.

"Guys, we really should hurry." Seer said. Johnny directed himself to his chosen team.

"Alright everyone, wear your finest clothes." Johnny then slung his chain using his right hand and caught the end of it in his left. "We're going to church."

* * *

(Church of Resurrection, ten minutes later)

Johnny and Ren snuck in through a window in one of the rooms at the front of the church while Ruby and Jaune snuck into the two rooms near the altar. Ren walked to the door and opened it slightly to see what was happening. Nora was unconscious on top the altar, hands tied with mystical binds and resting on her chest while Styge was chanting in an unknown language. Ren's grip on his weapon tightened at the sight and he was considering ending Styge's threat, permanently.

"Ren, come check this out." Johnny motioned him to come over.

Ren walked over to see what Johnny had knelt down to look at and was shocked by what he presented to him: human bones.

"Now we know why they didn't leave with their coats. They never left in the first place." Johnny said holding the bone of a forearm. He then noticed markings on them.

"Scratch marks, could be some kind of blade." Ren said.

"No, they're too flat. If it was a knife, they'd be straight lines." Johnny turned the bone. "There are more flat lines here, and they line up with the marks on top." Johnny then realized what they were.

"Ren…these marks weren't made by a knife, they were made by teeth." Johnny turned to him. "He didn't just kill these people, he ate them. He's a cannibal." Ren was completely shocked. Not wasting another moment, he ran to the door.

"Ren, wait." Johnny called out.

Ren ran out the door, drawing the other pistol with his left hand, ran to the steps of the altar, and pointed both pistols at Styge.

"Let. Her. Go!" Ren demanded. Styge only smiled.

"I'm impressed. I actually thought the red cloaked girl would've shown up first." Styge said. He was then tapped on the shoulder by something sharp. When he turned around, he was greeted by Ruby pointing the barrel of her open scythe at him with Jaune next to her with sword and shield drawn.

"Speak of the devil." Styge said.

"He won't be helping you tonight." Johnny said as he walked toward the steps.

"Ah, Mister Blaze! I was hoping you'd attend the ceremony."

"This ceremony is nothing but a slaughter that fulfils your hunger. You've been luring people here to feed on them!" Johnny said.

"The world is in peril. Vale has fallen, people are retreating from the kingdoms in fear of another attack, and some come to seek guidance and safety in the form of a church. They flock like sheep to this place in the hopes of finding sanctuary from the demons of the outside world, only to find themselves locked in with one." Styge then smiled, which urged Ren to move closer.

"I will NOT tell you again!"

"You see, there's a detail you're missing. I don't just devour the flesh, I devour the sin. Once their sins are absorbed, it allows me to become even more powerful."

Ren had enough and fired both weapons once at the reverend, but he held out his hand and the bullets stopped midair before they could reach him.

"Like so." Styge put his hand down and both rounds fell to the floor.

"You didn't just have this power or find it in an old spell book. Someone gave it to you, it was Blackheart wasn't it?" Johnny asked, to which Styge laughed.

"Please, it was unfortunate enough that I had to help his new lackey with those children of his, but it's even more unfortunate being confused as one of his servants. I wouldn't be caught dead working for the spoiled son of the devil or his red masked partner. No, I serve a true lord of darkness, and I will ensure that you and your pathetic posse are slain in his name with the powers he has given me."

Ren reached for Nora but was thrown back with a wave of Styge's hand including Jaune and Ruby, but Johnny only skidded slightly across the ground to the surprise of Styge. Johnny looked up at the reverend as smoke began to rise up from his neck and face as the sunlight through the stained glass window began to dim.

"You're not the only demon in this house."

Johnny then roared and transformed into the Ghost Rider in an explosion of flame. He then ran towards the reverend and the two prepared to fight.

* * *

(Hill overlooking the church)

Wallow floated over to his crying children. They were bound in mystical binds with red sigils rotating within the borders of the binds. He leaned closer to his daughter but she looked away, not wanting to stare into the porcelain face her father now had.

"Don't cry, Melissa." He said, wiping away her tears with his claw. "Daddy will make it better. We'll be together with mommy again."

"Please…don't…" Melissa said between sobs.

"It's ok honey, it's ok. It'll all be over soon." He said caressing her cheek.

"Get away from them, you porcelain faced freak!" Seer shouted as she and her team stood in a fighting stance.

"What could you possibly hope to achieve here? I have unlimited power and you're all just human." Wallow said.

"Maybe so, but we'll make sure that you do not lay a finger on your children." Pyrrha said.

"You don't have the RIGHT!" Wallow shouted. "They are MY children, and I decide their futures! Our lives were ruined, and now I'm just trying to provide my children with the only happiness available. You have no right to take that from me!"

"Take a good look at yourself. Do you really think they see their father? All they see is a monster, exactly as they saw you the night you took their mother from them." Seer said. Wallow looked down at his hands to see the reality of her words.

"I'm sorry the attack on Vale destroyed your home, but you were responsible for ruining your life and the lives of your family. The Grimm devastated your way of living, but you are the only monster here who destroyed anything good you once had." Pyrrha said.

"SHUT UP!" Wallow lunged forward only to be sent back by one of Seer's deflecting sigils.

"That's not gonna get in the way is it?" Seer asked, directing her attention to Pyrrha's crutch.

"It's the ace in the hole actually." Pyrrha said with a smile.

"It better be. Wolff and I will distract him while you and Sara get the kids to safety."

"Shouldn't I be helping you fight him? I'm not doubting Wolff's abilities but if you want to keep him away from the children shouldn't the **most** skilled hold him off?" Pyrrha said as Wallow struggled to get back up.

"That doesn't sound self-absorbed at all." Seer said sarcastically. "Because you have the most impressive skill set here, you're the only one I trust to keep those kids safe if we can't hold his attention long enough." After a brief moment, Wallow began to get back up.

"Let's get to work." Seer said.

They all charged at Wallow. When they were close enough, Pyrrha vaulted over and landed behind him. Seer fired energy blasts at his back to draw his attention away from Pyrrha and Sara while they ran to help the children. Sara knelt down to be at eyelevel with them.

"Hello there, we're here to help." Sara said while Pyrrha kept an eye on the battle.

Wolff kept pelting Wallow with rounds from his rifle while Seer did the same by firing blasts from her hands. Wallow swung his arm and deflected the oncoming bullets, sending them back at Wolff's feet to stop him from firing. Wallow quickly floated over and slammed him down to the ground, sending his rifle flying from his hands. Before he could go in for the kill, Seer fired more blasts at Wallow to draw his attention away from Wolff and on to her. He flew over to her while dodging her blasts and came face to face with her.

"Your fear is far sweeter than the others. The Rider's is based on lack of control for fear of destroying innocent lives including his friends, the swordsman's is based on losing the cripple, and the former soldier's is based on the fear of losing the girl's life to the son of the devil. But yours is based completely on your own self-preservation." Wallow's eyes shined red and Seer's memories of fear began to surface.

"You're afraid to do the right thing because you think it will cost you your life. Tell you what, you help me and I'll make sure you get to go home. I promise." Wallow said.

Seer kept seeing her fears, her most frightful memories as well as the fears of what could happen. She looked past those images and saw Sara trying to free the children from their mystical binds and saw what was really important, saving them. The images began to dissipate and she could see clearly, and then turned to face Wallow.

"No thanks. I may not want to die, but I'm not shallow enough to let two kids die to ensure that I'd live." Seer then fired a blast that impacted beneath his chin. He was about to attack until a spear stabbed through his chest, and he turned to see Pyrrha holding the end of it.

"By the way, this cripple can still do plenty of damage!" She said angrily.

Sara was trying her best to remove the binds but couldn't with any practical means.

"Ok, let's see if I can remember what Seer told me to say." Sara said to herself. She closed her eyes and recited what was told to her.

" _S_ _olvere de vinculis vinctos illos_." (Latin: Release these prisoners from their bonds)

The bonds dissipated and the children were free. She took their hands and made to lead them away from the battle. Wallow saw Sara leading his children away and pushed past Seer to get to his children. Pyrrha launched herself over to land in front of Sara and the children and used her shield to block Wallow's hand. Converting her weapon into rifle form, she fired directly into his face, sending him back in pain. He turned to look back, with a hole in the middle of his forehead, at Pyrrha.

"I ask again, what do you hope to do? You can't kill me, I'm a ghost, which means I'm already dead. I died when I made the deal. When I'm done with this, I'll end my children's mortal existence, and I get to pass on with them to the next world."

"You're right. You are a spirit, and sometimes spirits need last rites to pass on. Especially when they're standing over particular symbols." Pyrrha said.

"So you're gonna draw some circles in the ground while I fight your buddies, hoping that I don't kill them and you before you're done?" Wallow ended with a chuckle.

"No, because the symbol's already been drawn." Wallow was confused at that. "The entire time you were fighting us, you weren't paying attention to the mercenary drawing those 'circles in the ground'." Pyrrha finished.

Wallow heard the sound of something charging up and turned to the side to see what it was. It was Wolff, aiming his rifle at him. He fired from his energy attachment and sent Wallow flying back and onto the ground. After getting back up, he charged towards them but was stopped by some invisible barrier. He looked down to see that he was fired over the symbol in the grass that Wolff had been painting while he was distracted. Wallow looked back up at Wolff to see him holding a paint brush in his left hand with fresh white paint on it.

"Gotta keep an eye on your surroundings, bro." Wolff said smugly.

"I may be new to this sort of thing, but I know this symbol, and I know that you need the symbol to be engulfed in angelic fire in order for me to go to the next plane." Seer's expression fell in realization. "Whoops, should've picked a demon seal that didn't need it."

His laughs were cut short when a ball of blue flame hurtled towards him. The ball landed on the border line of the seal which then spread throughout the line and completely circled him. The group looked behind them to see Amber with her right hand out after firing the projectile and her left hand engulfed in blue flame.

"Tell flame head we're even!" Amber shouted before disappearing into the forest.

Seer held out her hands and projected the same symbol Wallow was hovering over and began the incantation.

" _Maliuolam animam, in incertum sagittam dirigens, et egredere de terra viventium ultra. Tolle odium tuum tenebrosum, et vade_ _!_ " (Malevolent spirit, leave this place and venture into the land beyond the living. Take your hate, take your darkness, and be gone!)

Wallow screamed as the incantation unraveled him and turned him into sludge and melted away. When it was over, the flames died out, the painted seal had dissipated and all that was left of Wallow was a porcelain face lying in the grass. Seer collapsed into the grass out of exhaustion and looked up at the night sky and began to think to herself.

" _I hope the others are doing well._ "

* * *

(Church of Resurrection)

"We are not doing well!" Jaune screamed.

The Rider and the reverend had been fighting and destroying the false church while the magic that bound Nora had fought back their attempts to free her. The Rider was pushed, pulled, and slammed by Styge's magic while Styge had been whipped by chains, beaten, and tossed around like a rag doll. The Rider dodged both his magic and his ceremonial knife while Styge dodged his chain to the best of their abilities. They both stood opposite each other, the Rider looking no worse for wear but tired while Styge had cuts on the bridge of his nose, his right cheek, and on the left side of his forehead.

"You know, I think we got off on the wrong foot." Styge said between breaths. "Mind if we start over? How about a hand shake? Or maybe do a fist bump like today's youth?"

"Good idea." Ghost Rider said. He then responded by punching Styge in the face.

Ghost Rider then grabbed his arm, threw him over his shoulder, sent him flying to land onto the altar steps, and lost his knife by the altar. The Rider then made his way over to the grounded priest.

"It's well past time for the 'sin eater' to burn for the sins he's taken, as well as his own." The Rider said.

"Actually, this whole knocking me around thing just reminded me. Suppressing non-demonic magic is just a matter of being near them with a suppression spell, but to suppress dark magic…all it takes is a little PUSH!" Styge then got up, punched Ghost Rider in the chest, and changed him back into Johnny Blaze before he hit the ground.

"Johnny!" Ruby yelled.

"How in the…?" Jaune said.

"Suppression spell for dark magic." Johnny struggled to say. "Use the right incantation or technique, and you can't use your own dark power. But it can only be used once." Johnny finished as he stood, holding his chest.

"Yes, but it'll leave me with enough time to wipe your miserable lives off the face of the planet." Styge said, standing defiantly on the altar steps.

"You could, but you can't tap into magic naturally. Using that type of incantation against a Spirit of Vengeance drains borrowed magic, and since you haven't feasted yet, that means you've just depleted your own power." Johnny said with a smile.

Styge waved his hand and found himself unable to move Johnny with his magic. Johnny walked up the steps and Styge backed away from him, only to be knocked down by the hilt of Jaune's sword.

The bonds on Nora's hands and legs disappeared and she began to wake up. When she opened her eyes, she saw everyone looking down at her.

"I didn't fall into a food coma did I? I only had three marshmallows." Nora said groggily.

Ren chuckled as he sat her up on the altar, not wanting to rush her standing up and possibly stumble.

"Ren, what's going on?" Nora asked.

"We're getting you out of here." He said wiping away the ectoplasm from her eyes. Ren then helped her off the altar to try and walk her out.

"Jaune, a little help." Ren said.

"Yeah, on it." Jaune said as he grabbed Nora's left arm to help Ren lead her out.

As they were making their way out, Styge picked himself up and grabbed the knife. He yelled as he made his way to try to stab one of them.

"Look out!" Ruby shouted as she grabbed her weapon.

As he was about to jump from the top of the steps, a shot rang out. Styge let out a sharp and brief shout as he grabbed his left eye and fell back to the ground, seemingly dead.

Ruby looked at Crescent Rose to see if it had misfired but saw no indication that it did. She, along with everyone else, turned to see that it was Ren that fired with smoke coming out the barrel of his left pistol. The building began to crumble and fall apart and they all made their way out, leaving Styge behind. They made their way to the door but found themselves unable to open it.

"It's stuck!" Johnny shouted.

A stone pillar had collapsed in front of the door and blocked their way out. Qrow landed in front of the debris and sliced it in half with his sword so they could go through. When they opened the door, Qrow was gone. They rushed out and Ruby knocked over the basket of flowers Styge had picked when they met him. They ran past a tree near the gate which had a crow standing on a branch, watching them run to safety.

* * *

(Hill overlooking the church, daybreak)

Most of them watched as the church continued to crumble to dust, like a nightmare washing away and they could all breathe a sigh of relief.

"The church was held together by the darkness that was tied to Styge." Johnny said while he continued to watch it crumble. "Since he didn't complete the ceremony and absorb the power he needed to sustain his magic and the church, his 'kingdom' is now ashes."

"Is it because of that, or is it falling apart because the person it's tied to is no longer with us?" Seer asked. Johnny looked over to Ren who was wiping away the ectoplasm from Nora's face while she fidgeted.

"Who knows? And honestly…who the hell cares?" Johnny said before walking away.

"Then why mention it?" Seer muttered quietly to herself.

"How are you doing?" Johnny asked when he made his over to Ren and Nora.

"Doing pretty good, despite the whole possession, kidnapping, attempted cannibalism…" Nora trailed on.

"Ok, Nora, I got it. I think we've all had enough horror for one night, let alone a lifetime." Johnny said. "Ren, can I talk to you for a sec?"

"I'll just…ask Pyrrha about her fight with a spooky ghost." Nora said awkwardly before making her way over to Pyrrha.

"How are the children?" Ren asked.

"Shaken up, but they'll live. Seer opened a portal to their aunt and uncle's house for them, so they're safe." There was a brief pause. "You know no one blames you, right? You did what you had to do in a situation that required you to act. You kept us safe." Ren carried an expression of guilt.

"I know." Ren said dejectedly.

"I wanted to make sure you knew. Cause I know something like this, taking a life, can eat you up from the inside." Johnny said.

"Please don't use that phrase." Ren said.

"Sorry, I'll stay clear of any phrases that remind us of cannibalism."

"Johnny…" Ren said with a deadpan face.

"Sorry." Johnny placed a hand on Ren's shoulder. "The point is you reacted. It may not have ended the way you wanted, but know that Nora and the rest of us are safe. Thank you, Ren."

Ren nodded with a mixed expression of sadness and gratefulness. The moment was interrupted by Seer.

"Hey, we should leave soon. We ought to say our goodbyes before we do, though." She said.

"Wait, if you can open portals and such, how come you can't open a portal for us to get to Haven?" Nora asked.

"I'd send you through the portal with them but with the amount of magic I've used in the incantation, I'd only be able to send those three through without severely hurting myself. Besides, I'm only gonna be able to open two portals. One for them to get to Mistral and one for me to get back home and return to my work helping people, sorry guys." Seer said.

"You're serious." Johnny said with a puzzled expression.

"Because I didn't get involved people almost died, and people **have** died. It's time I stopped worrying so much about my life and focus more on helping others. Like the old days." Seer finished with a smile.

"You could come with us." Johnny said.

"Wish I could, but I've neglected people who need me back home and have nobody else to turn to." Seer said. "Looks like you drew the short straw, I'm really sorry guys." She said looking to Ruby and the others.

"We're used to it." Jaune said with a smile. "Don't be sorry, we've been doing alright so far."

"How long will it be until you can open portals again?" Johnny asked.

"A few weeks maybe. You'll be the first to know, trust me. In the meantime, keep an eye out for…Amber, was it?"

"Yeah, and I will. Something tells me she's not done with me yet." Johnny said. "Well I guess this is goodbye, for now."

He held out his hand to Seer who then shook it. They all exchanged hugs and goodbyes before Johnny, Wolff, and Sara made their way over to their portal to Windpath. Seer opened her portal and gave Johnny his bike back before they walked through.

"Good luck saving the world!" Ruby said with a smile.

"Same to you. See you around, Huntress!" Johnny said.

Johnny, Wolff, and Sara walked through their portal and the others watched it close. They then waved goodbye to Seer who then walked through her portal and closed it from the other side.

"Wait, couldn't we have just told them about our lead in Haven before they left so they could do something about it when they got there?" Nora said. Everyone suddenly realized the logic in that and stood in disbelief that the thought hadn't occurred to them.

"DANG IT!" Ruby shouted. "Oh well, nothing we can do about it now. Onward?" She asked.

"Onward." They all answered in unison.

As they were walking away, Pyrrha felt a warm feeling in her injured ankle. When she looked, she noticed blue flames hovering over her injury. When the flames dissipated, she took the crutch off, and placed her foot on the ground with no pain. She took a few steps without limping and realized she was fully healed. She looked around to find the one person who could've done it but could only see the forest.

"Thank you, Amber." Pyrrha said silently to the wind.

She ran off, for the first time in months, to catch up with the others. The only thing looking over the hill at the destroyed church, was crutch in the grass that had served its purpose.

* * *

The group passed the church one final time on their way to Mistral, bidding good riddance to the foul place. But unbeknownst to them, a figure appeared out of thin air amongst the rubble. This figure was clad in a red tunic closed at the front by a horned skull pendant at the waist, black pants, red boots, tattered red gloves, and a gray helmet that covered his entire head save for his mouth and chin. The helmet had protruding silver pieces above the eyes that arched to mimic eyebrows and long white hair attached to the helmet at the back.

He walked over to a pile of rubble and cleared it away, pulling Styge from below the rocks. Styge coughed and held his left eye that was no longer there, thanks to Ren. He looked upon the figure that found him and made to speak.

"Master Centurious, I am so sorry. The Rider, he-he overpowered me, vanquished Wallow, and destroyed the church." Styge was cut short by Centurious covering his mouth with his hand.

"I do not wish for excuses. Therefore, do not ramble any to me." Centurious said. After receiving a nod from Styge, he let go of him.

"I no longer have need of this place, I have much…bigger plans. And they include you, reverend."

"Yes master. Do they have anything to do with Blackheart's vision of the new world?" Styge asked.

"No. His plan is tedious, and whether or not it succeeds is not our concern." Centurious said. "Our plans will ensure our victory no matter the outcome."

"Of course, master. But, what about the Ghost Rider?" Styge asked as he picked himself up off the ground.

"Let Blackheart distract the Rider with his plans of San Venganza a little longer. The Spirit of Vengeance will be too busy fighting the devil-spawn to notice our search for the Darkhold pages." Centurious held his hand out to Styge. "Come, we must prepare for **her** arrival."

Styge then took his master's hand, and the both of them vanished to parts unknown.

* * *

Author's note: Well, for those who follow the comics or looked him up online, now you know how Styge get's his eye patch in our story. Also, for those who might be confused at the end, the **her** that's mentioned is not Cinder or Salem, it's someone worse (believe it or not). But we'll worry about that another time, see you in the next chapter.


	10. San Venganza: Jack of All Trades

**Comic book characters introduced: Jack O' Lantern, Vengeance, Agent Uno, Kowalski,** and **Carter Slade**.

 **Comic book characters mentioned: Rebecca Taylor** and **Sam Buchanan**.

Jack O' Lantern has been multiple characters in the comics, but we decided to focus on the mystical-demonic character for this story. We made the identity of the character someone recognizable from the RWBY universe and we hope you enjoy that little twist. As always, thanks for everything.

* * *

(Kingdom of Mistral, Windpath)

The portal closed behind them as they made their way through the street. They all felt uneasy as they walked past the inhabitants since Windpath was notorious for being not as governed like the main city and ripe with those of the criminal underworld. They weren't particularly fond of the stares they received, which only made Wolff grip his rifle tighter.

"The people around here are either trying to swindle something out of you or try to kill you so try to be careful." Johnny warned.

"I'm sure this place ain't so bad." Wolff said. He then began to check his pockets seconds after. "Wait, where's my wallet?"

"Like I said, be careful."

"I'm already in love with this place." Sara said sarcastically.

"Welcome to Windpath." Johnny said.

"You sound like you've been here before." Wolff said.

"I've been everywhere. Not every bad guy stays in or comes from Vacuo you know."

"Fair enough."

They made their way past some of the vendors in the street. Most of them selling cheap or fake items meant to either sustain or protect those outside the kingdom's borders. Sara didn't feel very comfortable passing by some of the rougher "citizens", especially those who easily appeared to be killers for hire.

"Doing alright?" Johnny asked, shaking Sara out of her funk.

"Yeah, just a little nervous." She said.

"Then we should get you a weapon or two to help with that."

"I'm not that nervous."

"We should get something anyway. I'm surprised we haven't gotten you a weapon sooner, especially after all the things we've been through lately."

"Of course, cause who could predict demons, life force vampires, shadow monsters, ghosts, and cannibal priests?" Sara said, to which Johnny slowly raised his hand.

"Ok, nobody likes a show off." She and Johnny began to laugh.

Johnny walked over to a vendor selling a variety of different weapons, parked his bike near the stand, and began looking through the selection until he saw a pair of weapons he thought were suited for Sara.

"How much for these two together?" Johnny asked.

"Those are top grade, my friend. I'll sell 'em for five hundred Lien." The vendor said.

"One: no, two: these are not top grade, and three: who the hell do you think is gonna walk around **here** with five hundred Lien, especially when you announce it for the entire street to hear?" Johnny said irritatedly.

"Don't matter. You don't got the Lien, you don't get the weapons."

"How's this? We do a non-murderous and non-life ruining favor, and you give us the real pieces instead of these knock-offs." Johnny said. The owner looked at him with a curious but apprehensive expression.

"Well…alright. If you can disrupt the sellin' of those weapons from the table in front a' me for the day, then I'll give the real ones to you for a hundred, and I'll even throw in these pair a' biker goggles." They looked over to the table he described, run by a man with a wider variety of weapons. They looked back at the vendor with a questioning look.

"What? He's my little brother. I like to mess with 'im, especially when he's cuttin' into my business."

"Yeah, whatever. Wolff, would you mind?" Johnny asked.

"Say no more."

Wolff walked over and pretended to browse through the weapons of the opposing vendor, unbeknownst to him however, Wolff loosened a nail on one of the table legs. The table then collapsed under the weight and Wolff snuck away pretending to be as surprised as everyone else.

"That work?" Johnny asked the more than pleased vendor.

"Works just fine." He reached under the table. "I give you what I like to call 'Slice n Dice'. The katana to slice 'em, and the pistol to dice 'em."

The pistol appeared to Johnny as similar to the design of Blake's but without any of the sword and ribbon attachments. The katana was standard with a black handle and gold hilt. The vendor also included a holster for the pistol and a harness with the katana's sheath attached to the back. Sara held them to see how they felt and loved them right away. She then put on all the gear, holstered her weapons, rested the brown leather goggles on top her head, and they all walked away to their next destination after bidding a quick thanks to the vendor.

"Pleasure doin' business! Sure I can't interest you in any a' my other products? Got body armor, boots, even skirts with pockets! They're really goo-and they're not listening." Said the vendor.

"Hey!" His attention was then drawn to his brother. "You did this, I know you did!"

"What are ya talkin' about?! I didn't do nothin'."

"Oh yeah, well I'm tellin' mom! We'll see what she has to say about this!"

"You're forty two years old, what're ya rattin' on me to mom for?!"

"I'm even gonna tell her you sold her sword to that girl."

"No! Look, I'll do whatever you want, just don't tell mom. If you do, there'll be no lasagna tonight!"

* * *

(Tavern)

"Seer said if Hag and the others were just as much scoundrels as they were when we met them, then they would've more than likely done business here." Johnny said.

"Ok, so what's the play?" Wolff asked.

"You guys stay with the bike so it doesn't go wandering anywhere. And if things go bad, you can come in and help me out."

"Seriously, after everything that's happened, you're benching us now?" Wolff asked.

"Well, if you guys want to come with me and meet the thieves and murderers, then by all means…"

"Nah, we're good."

"I'm not looking to have my wallet stolen either." Sara said while testing the sights of her new pistol.

"Well then. See you in a few." Johnny said before walking in.

"Do you even know how to use those?" Wolff asked looking at Sara.

"My dad taught me how to handle a gun and I was actually a fencing champion for three consecutive years."

"Well, damn."

Once inside, Johnny looked around through the smoke to find who or what would be the best source of information. He saw goons for hire with their "clients", patrons throwing knives at a dart board, and people just having a drink. After scoping the place out, he surmised that the one person that might have the information he needed was the bartender.

"Hey, I'm looking for someone." Johnny said.

"If that someone's name is bourbon, then I can help you with that." The man said.

"Actually, this person employed somebody who I'm sure frequented this place. That somebody's name was Hag, I believe."

"Look man, if you're not gonna buy anything then I'm not gonna talk to you. Seeing as how we've got nothing else to discuss, there's the door." The bartender said pointing to the door. Johnny then grabbed his hand and began applying pressure, and the whole place went silent as everyone looked to see what was happening.

"I don't usually do this sort of thing, I actually let the 'other guy' do stuff like this, but I ran out of patience the minute Hag showed up and I've picked up enough moves over the years to make you tell me what I want to hear. So, let me put it simply, you're going to tell me what I want to know or whatever happens to this hand is gonna look a little more tame compared to what I'll do to the other one if you don't give me what I want."

"Ok, ok, oh my go…wh-what do you wanna know about Hag?" He said through the pain.

"Did she and her crew talk to anybody out of the ordinary? A non-regular, dressed all weird, creepy looking, that sort of thing?"

"Uh, y-yeah, they were talking to some guy in a red mask. He talked about giving them 'power beyond their wildest dreams', and they just ate it up."

"Did the guy talk about anything else?"

"I think he said something about a blade, or maybe he said slade, I don't know."

"Slade?" Johnny said in a surprised tone. "He said that, that exact word?"

"Yeah, I-I think so. Look, I told you all I know, could you please?" The bartender directed to his hand. Johnny let go soon after.

"Thanks for the help." Johnny said.

"Before you go, I gotta ask." The bartender said, massaging his hand. "What's the deal with you and Hag? She up to no good again?" Johnny then placed Hag's scorched pin on the counter.

"She was." Johnny said as he left.

"Good, never liked her anyway." The bartender said to himself.

"Spot of trouble?" A cloaked and shadowed figure asked.

"Just some punk."

"I'll take care of it for you."

"Hey, you won't hear me complaining. There's a free drink in it for you if you do, stranger."

"Good to know." The figure looked to where Johnny exited. "I'm gonna have fun with this one." The man's smile then glowed with a yellow flaming light.

* * *

"Any luck?" Sara asked.

"Oh yeah, grab your stuff. We're going back to Sanus." Johnny said.

"What? After all the crap we went through to get here, we gotta go all the way back? We don't have a woman who can open portals to get us back quickly anymore, you know." Wolff complained.

"True, but these guys smuggle stuff between continents all the time. I'm sure we can hop on one of the outgoing ships."

"Continental travel isn't a little cab ride away. It'll take a day, maybe more. Your 'guest' isn't gonna keep himself indisposed of for all that time." Sara pointed out.

"Well, then I'll just hijack one and follow you guys back from a distance."

"Do you even know how to fly an air ship or a Bullhead?" Wolff asked.

"I'll figure it out." Johnny said after a brief pause.

"I am filled with confidence." Wolff said sarcastically.

"Then you're gonna love what I've gotta say next." They turned to Johnny worriedly.

"The outgoing shipments take off at sunset." Johnny said.

"What?!" They both shouted.

"Look, I'll set something up with one of the pilots. All you guys have to worry about is getting on the ship, while I secure a Bullhead nobody's paying attention to."

"I really don't like this plan." Wolff said.

"Me neither, but I can't think of another plan that'll get us back in time."

"Time for what?" Sara asked.

"I'll tell you after I get you two a ship. You guys find a place for us to eat and I'll fill you in on everything when I get back."

They all walked away from the tavern unaware of the cloaked figure watching them from the shadows.

* * *

They found a place to sit and ate the first real meal they'd eaten in three days. It wasn't sunset yet and they tried to kill time until Johnny came back. When he did, he ordered and ate his food.

"So, you gonna tell us or are we supposed to read your mind?" Wolff asked.

"I will, I will. Just let me finish eating." Johnny mumbled, chewing his food.

"Ok, I'm ready now." Johnny said. "I got you guys a Bullhead. The guy's shipping cargo to Sanus, of course, and he agreed to take the both of you as long as you stay quiet. He'll be on the middle dock among five. And before you ask, yes, I've found a ride out of here too."

"Good, now all that's left is what you found out." Wolff said.

"Deathwatch talked with our trio and, through some coercion, the bartender said he overheard him mention a 'Slade'."

"What's a Slade?" Sara asked.

"It's not a thing, it's a person. A long time ago there was a Ghost Rider who brought vengeance on flaming horseback across Sanus. That Rider was Carter Slade."

"Carter Slade? I've read old reports about him. Caused a bit of trouble for some Atlesian soldiers a while back, operated between Vale and Vacuo, but pretty much everyone thinks he's dead since nobody's seen him in twenty years." Wolff said.

"Yeah, there's a reason for that. His last bounty as the Rider is his most famous story. Mephisto had tasked him with retrieving a contract from the town of San Venganza, and it was said that this contract was worth a thousand souls."

"A thousand?!" Sara asked in disbelief. "How was Mephisto even able to get that many?"

"He asked. Remember, every deal has to be finalized on a mutual agreement. You can't force someone to sell their own soul, they have to make that decision all by themselves otherwise the contract is void."

"And a thousand people just agreed to that?" Wolff asked.

"They were desperate. It was said that San Venganza faced a drought and all the cattle and vegetation had died out. Without food and water, and with nowhere else to go, the entire town gave away their souls for the land to be revitalized again. The crops grew back, the lakes refilled, the wildlife returned, and Mephisto told them that he would be back to collect their debt. When the time came, he sent Slade to collect the contract and bring it to him, since Mephisto was the only one who could use it. But, knowing what the contract could do in the hands of the devil, Slade made sure that Mephisto would never get his hands on it. It was believed that he was killed and Zarathos was sent back to Mephisto, since that's the only other way to get a Spirit of Vengeance back from the host. But as it turns out, that's not the case."

"Ooh, now I'm intrigued." Wolff said before loudly sipping his drink through a straw.

"I found out through Seer's mentor, the Caretaker that he was alive and helped out anyone who needed him under a new name: the Phantom Rider. Dressed all in white and riding in on a white horse that he named Banshee."

"Wow. Guy took the whole white knight thing to heart, huh?" Sara asked.

"Wait, hold on. If he's not dead, then how did he break his tie to Zarathos?" Wolff asked.

"That's one of the things I intend to ask him when we meet him."

"You know where he is?" Sara asked.

"I got a pretty good guess. I already told the pilot to punch the coordinates in so you guys should get there without any problems."

"Ok, now this begs another question. What does Blackheart have to do with this? If Mephisto is the only one who can use it, then why bother trying to get it?" Wolff asked.

"Let me elaborate. Mephisto and anyone in his bloodline could use the contract of San Venganza, and if they were able to unleash its power, they could then bring Hell to the mortal plane. They could merge both worlds together, become the new ruler, and bring about a never ending reign fire and darkness. That's what we're doing, we are saving the world from Blackheart bringing Hell to Remnant." Johnny finished.

"Damn, no pressure then." Wolff said bewilderedly.

"There's still one thing I don't understand." Sara said. "What does this all have to do with me?"

"I don't know yet. Maybe Blackheart thinks you know where it is."

"I think I would remember a contract worth a thousand souls."

"I'm more worried that we may not make it to Carter in time. Since Blackheart and Deathwatch have a three day head start on us, Carter might already be dead."

"But it's the only lead we got." Wolff summarized.

"And I'm afraid the lead has gone cold." They all turned to see the mysterious figure from before.

"Oh god, what now?" Johnny asked.

"Rude." As the figure said this, Wolff and Sara reached for their weapons.

"Look, we've had a rough few days and I'm not particularly in the mood for any more."

"Wouldn't want to burden you." The figure said in a sarcastic tone. "Point is: the boss isn't ready for you yet."

"Isn't ready? He's had three whole days. Hell, he's been killing and causing mayhem for weeks, how can he still not be ready?" Wolff asked.

"Ask him when he's ready for you. But until then, you're gonna have to deal with me."

The figure dropped the cloak to reveal that he wasn't much of a mortal being at all. He wore dark green pants and what appeared to be green body armor, the sleeves had a lighter green diamond shape pattern throughout, green metallic shin and knee guards that were slightly burned, black gloves and boots, a severely torn short dark red cape, and a burning pumpkin for a head. The eyes and mouth glowed from the flames inside the head, and the "carved" teeth were small compared to the four large ones at the front. Two large ones on the top "jaw" and two large ones on the bottom like fangs.

As soon as the diners caught sight of this, everyone in the food stop ran out as fast as they could.

"Great, it's another one." Johnny sighed.

"So, should we be heading for that ship now?" Wolff asked.

"I would say that's a definite yes." Johnny said, standing himself up. Wolff and Sara both began to run for the ship while Johnny stayed behind.

"Look man, I am tired, still hungry, and I haven't showered in three days. I want this all to be over so that I can at least have a decent night's sleep. So, would you please mind going the hell away so that I can get right on that and not have to do this whole song and dance anymore?"

"What do you think my answer would be?"

"The same one I've gotten every time. Are you sure you don't want to leave? I really don't want to have to kill you."

"You sound confident that you'll win. I like that."

"So, what do I call you? Everyone we've met so far has a 'super villain' name. Is it like Pumpkin Head or something?"

"Close enough. Jack O' Lantern." He materialized a burning sphere from his left hand.

Johnny saw that the sun had set. "Well…here we go again." His eyes then vanished as smoke began to rise from his body.

* * *

Wolff and Sara ran past citizens who were otherwise mildly confused as to why they were running. Sara stopped to catch her breath and upon noticing this, Wolff ran back to her.

"What're you doing? We gotta go!" Wolff said.

"Johnny's back there. We should help."

"Look, I know you're worried, and that you really want to try out the new toys, but I'm not going to let the both of us get killed for a test run. No offense."

"Come on, you're his best friend. Don't you think he might need some help?"

There was suddenly a loud boom and they both turned into the direction they ran from to see fiery mushroom cloud.

"I think he'll be fine." Wolff began to run. "Come on! They'll leave without us!"

Sara looked away from the fire and started to catch up to Wolff.

* * *

Jack O' Lantern threw the explosive spheres, only for Ghost Rider to dodge them whenever he did. He threw one more, to which the Rider whipped with his chain and sent it back near Jack's feet. Jack became irritated and summoned through fire a large disk beneath his feet, and flew up into the air on it. The Rider dove for cover as Jack bombarded him with more spheres. After making for cover, he summoned the Hell Cycle to him which drove through the fleeing civilians, turning them to ash. The ruckus from the bike distracted Jack long enough for the Rider to wrap a chain around his arm. The Rider mounted the bike and drove down the street dragging Jack and his floating saucer along the road. The Rider slammed on the brakes and Jack zoomed past and crashed through a wall to a store that several people had taken refuge in. As Jack flew in, he dropped a sphere near the group of frightened people and the interior of the store exploded with flames bursting out the windows.

The Rider pulled up near the front of the burning building to see Jack stumbling through the flames. Jack dropped to one knee trying to recompose himself and brushing off fire from his left shoulder. The Rider began to drive towards Jack until Jack summoned his flying disc and sent it towards him, knocking him off the bike. Jack summoned another sphere and the Rider readied his chain, both waited for the other to attack each other in a standoff. Jack looked at the crowds of people around them and saw an opportunity. He saw killers and thieves, men and women who had committed their fair share of heinous acts, surrounding them. To Jack, they were the perfect distraction.

"Looks like things are getting a bit too hot for me." Jack said as he mounted his flying disc. "I'm afraid **this** is where we part ways." He then flew off into the sky.

The Rider whipped his chain to try and bring him down but Jack dodged it and flew away. He looked to where he last saw Jack until he was distracted by the sounds of the crowd.

"What is that thing?!" He heard a woman cry out.

He looked through the crowd and his mind flooded with voices. Voices of the ones they hurt in more ways than one, and the need to chase Jack was gone. Overcome with hatred, he readied his chain and made his way toward the crowd.

* * *

(Cliffside docking bay)

Sara and Wolff ran to the Bullhead they were told would take them back to Sanus. The pilot was frantically loading cargo onto the ship until he noticed the both of them.

"You the ones I'm supposed to take?" The pilot asked in a panicked tone.

"Yeah, that's us." Wolff said.

"Good, now help me get this in before whatever's blowing stuff up over there decides to do it over here." Wolff then went to help the pilot push the last crate onto the ship.

Sara saw people running from the flames and ran in the direction of the fire.

"Sara!" Wolff shouted.

"I've had enough of this, I'm leaving. Your choice whether you wanna come with or stay with your girlfriend." The pilot said. Wolff sighed in frustration and knocked out the pilot with the end of his rifle.

"Really hope I didn't forget those flight simulations at the academy." Wolff said as he dragged the unconscious pilot into the cockpit.

* * *

Sara ran past the fleeing crowds to the source of the fires. When she made it, she saw a man running for his life toward her. A burning hot chain came down through the middle of him and he was split into two separate piles of ash. Sara looked up to see the Rider holding the chain and looking at her. She drew her weapons and readied herself for a fight as he made his way to her. Knowing she would ultimately lose, she looked around to see what else she could use to better fight him. She saw a Dust shop with barrels supported by a winch atop the store entrance. The barrels were labeled with a flame emblem signifying that the powder inside was Burn, and Sara made to act when he got close enough to the entrance. She cut the rope and the barrels were falling in front of the Rider. Sara then drew her pistol and fired toward the falling barrels, igniting them. The explosion sent the both of them flying back with the Rider receiving the brunt of it.

"Holy crap, I was sure I was gonna miss." Sara said before getting up.

Sara looked around and saw that there were dozens of piles of burning ash. The whole thing had escalated from a fight to a massacre. A chain was then wrapped around Sara's foot and she was then dragged towards the Rider. He held her up to his face while she pointed her gun toward his right eye socket and the both of them waited for the other to do something. They were then interrupted by the sound of laughter.

"I always loved watching you work, Zarathos." They both turned their gaze to the creature that spoke and saw the behemoth that was Blackheart. The Rider dropped Sara and made his way over to the demon.

"As good as it was catching up with you, I'm gonna need to speak with your other half." Blackheart said as the Rider readied his chain. " _Restinguam tenebris ad vindictam unde venisti._ " (Extinguish your vengeance and return to the darkness from whence you came).

The Rider struggled to walk further and the flames began to extinguish. He fell to the floor as his influence over Johnny began to dwindle like the coming of the sunlight.

"Why do you only know the painful suppression spells?" Johnny said as he painfully stood back up.

"They're more fun for me." Blackheart said smugly. "I believe you have something of mine." Blackheart looked toward Sara and she visibly became uneasy.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Does this form bother you? I forget it's not considered normal around here."

Blackheart then morphed from his demonic form into a more human one. In that form, he donned black dress shoes, black suit pants, red velvet waistcoat, white dress shirt, and all under a black overcoat. His skin was deathly pale and, in Johnny's mind, eyes like Qrow and hair like Oobleck but black.

"Better?" Blackheart said as he gestured to himself.

"No." Johnny said frankly.

"There's always someone. Well, you won't have to see it for much longer after I take what's mine." Blackheart began to walk to Sara before Johnny stood in his way.

"Seriously? You have no power over me anymore."

"How did you get out of Hell?" Johnny asked, ignoring his statement.

"Vale, of course."

"I'm not following."

"That much terror, sadness, and death on that large of a scale hadn't happened since the Great War. That much influx of negative emotion and dearly departed souls passing through Hell, it was enough to weaken the prison surrounding me."

"But not enough to break it. So someone did help you get out, and it's more than likely the same someone who gave you the power to make deals, I'm guessing."

"Sorry, Blaze. Can't reveal all my secrets, what kind of magician would I be if I did?"

"Alright, then what do you want from Sara?"

"I'm sure you've figured it out already." Blackheart said with a smile.

"The contract of San Venganza."

"And I **will** have it."

"But she doesn't have it. If she did, it was definitely destroyed in the Vale attack." Blackheart laughed at that last part.

"You think the contract is a piece of paper? If it was, then every angel and demon would know what to look for. The most powerful contract on the planet wouldn't be something so easy to identify. After knowing my father, you'd really think he'd make it something so simple?"

"Your dad always did like to make everything as 'extravagant' and complex as his ego. Ok, then, tell me. What really is the contract of San Venganza?" Blackheart gave him a quizzical look. "Oh, come on. I have no power and you're going to kill me anyway. So why not let me die with some clarity?"

"Kill you? No, I need you alive. Believe it or not, the plan does require you to keep breathing. Why do you think I came here? Well, aside from coming to collect the contract itself."

"You came to collect me too?"

"Correctamundo."

"What do you need me for?"

Blackheart smiled and was about to speak until something exploded in his face, knocking him back. Johnny and Sara turned to see Wolff piloting a Bullhead and hovering above the street with a smoking gun barrel.

"Aw, damn it! He was gonna reveal the whole plan!" Johnny yelled in frustration.

"Forget the plan, make for the ship!" Sara said as she put on her goggles and mounted Johnny's bike. She pulled Johnny onto the back which barely had any space for him to sit on.

"I'm the one who drives the bike, it's always me!" Johnny yelled as she sped off.

Wolff hovered closer to the ground with the left cargo door open for them to board. She pulled up and with the front wheel in the air and she managed to get the rest of the bike over the open door and made it inside. Once they were in, Wolff closed the door and flew off into the sky. Blackheart sat up and slowly began to morph back into his true form.

"BLAAAZE!" Blackheart shouted into the sky.

"Problems?" Blackheart looked to his right and saw Jack O' Lantern hovering above him.

"Don't get smart with me. Go after them!" Jack then flew up into the sky.

* * *

"Nice driving." Johnny said as he and Sara got up off the floor.

"Don't mention it." Sara said, quickly patting his shoulder.

"I'm uh…I'm really sorry you had to see that." Sara realized he had meant the piles of ash and the fleeing civilians the Rider had killed.

"It wasn't you."

"No, but I let him out. I should've left earlier, I should've…I guess I thought, with everything that happened lately, that I could control him. I was very wrong, and I'm sorry."

"Guys! You need to see this!" Wolff shouted.

"Excuse me." Johnny said, stepping over the unconscious pilot.

"We have company." Wolff said, directing their attention to Jack O' Lantern hovering in front of them with spheres ready.

"May I?" Johnny asked.

"I insist." Wolff said. Johnny reached for the flight stick, pressed the top button, and fired the gun at Jack sending him towards the ground.

"God, that must've been satisfying." Wolff said.

"Yeah." Johnny said in a sad tone before walking out of the cockpit.

"What's with him?" Wolff asked.

"Not just now, ok?" Sara asked, seating herself in the co-pilot seat.

"Ok. Let's get outta here before 'pumpkin spice' comes back." Wolff said.

Johnny sat up against one of the containers thinking about everything that had just transpired. While thinking about those Zarathos hurt, he remembered something that Jack said.

 _"_ _I'm afraid_ _ **this**_ _is where we part ways."_

"Where have I heard that before?" Johnny asked himself.

He tried very hard to remember. His memory took him back to the previous day when he tried accessing the Rider's power to find dark magic and he looked into Ruby's memories. To find sins, his power had to sift through her memories to find them. One of those memories was a dark night during a robbery with Ruby looking at a figure wearing a bowler hat and wielding a cane.

 _"_ _Well, Red, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening, and as much as I'd love to stick around…I'm afraid_ _ **this**_ _is where we part ways."_

Johnny held his head in his right hand and sighed.

"Ruby's not gonna like this."

* * *

(A few months prior)

There was darkness all around. No sound, no smell, nothing. There was absolutely nothing until a voice called out through the blackness.

"Do you want a second chance?" He looked around to see who had just spoken, only to find that there was still nothing to see.

"What? Where am I? What's going on?" He asked frantically.

"Think back, what do you remember?"

He remembered a ship, monsters in the sky, and a fight he was about to win until he remembered a giant beak.

"Oh god…oh god! I-I died?!"

"Yep, pretty much."

"Oh my go…w-wait, how am I still here? I don't…" He was interrupted before he could continue.

"Well, luckily for you, I saw promise and thought 'why not give this guy the first one?'"

"First what?"

"The first deal. You my friend will be the first of many in this grand plan of mine to be granted power in exchange for your soul, should you accept of course. Come on, what do ya say? You want a second chance at life?"

"You can do that?"

"Of course. What, don't think I can?"

"Not too sure if I'm being honest."

"Really? A voice speaking to you in the afterlife is offering you a second chance and you're having doubts about power? A man who used to work for a crazy mystical-fire woman."

"Ok, I get the point." He said, weaning from astonished to slightly irritated.

"I can see why you're so apprehensive. You worked for someone who threatened you to do what she said and frightened you to ensure you kept doing it. My friend, the power you'll be granted will rival even hers and should you ever run into her again, **she** will be the one afraid of you. So, what will it be, Roman? Fade away or come back more powerful than ever?"

After considering both eventualities, either fade away into the darkness forever or come back and get a new chance at the life he once had, he found his answer.

"I accept your offer."

"Good. Now, let's shake on it."

He felt a hand grab his own through the darkness. Then there was a flash of light and he saw a tall dreaded monster in front of him while Vale was burning behind it. Power went up his arm and throughout his body, transforming him into something else.

"Welcome back, Jack." Blackheart said as Roman continued to scream.

* * *

(Vale Police Department, the next morning)

A tall man in a distressed suit and tie holding a leather jacket walked in, obviously exhausted. As he was making his way to his desk, he noticed officers scrambling around the squad room.

"Hey, Kowalski. What's going on?" He asked the passing deputy.

"It's him, Michael. It's him!" He said before waving his robotic right hand and running off.

"Detective Badilino. It's been a while." A woman behind him said.

He turned to see a blonde haired woman in a red suit jacket and black pants standing in front of him.

"Yes it has." He held his hand, to which she shook. "Good to see you again, Uno."

"Agent Uno, now."

"Well, Atlas must be treating you nicely then." He looked around to the chaos around the precinct. "What's going on?"

"Earlier this morning, ships with people from Windpath came in and they said that they witnessed a fight between a pumpkin man and a motorcyclist wielding a chain that turned people to ash." Michael's eyes widened.

"We're still sifting through the witness statements, but the M.O. matches the Hellfire Murders. It's him." Uno said. "I talked with the captain, and I got the go ahead to put the old team together to go after him. The only members left are you and me. I couldn't get Sam since he quit, but Kowalski has already volunteered. All that's left is you."

"Oh, I'm definitely in." Michael said.

"And we'll make him pay for Rebecca." She said with a hand on his shoulder before walking away. "You begin work immediately. Bring the old files from your apartment back here and we'll go over what we know."

"How do you know I got the old files?" She turned and looked at him with look that said 'really?'

"Back in fifteen." He put on his leather jacket and walked back out the way he came in.

He made his way outside and onto his motorcycle (Remnant equivalent to a 2017 Harley V-Rod Muscle) parked in the shade. He pulled out a photo from his pocket of him and a brown haired woman, both in brighter spirits.

"I'm gonna take you down for what you did to her, and when I do…" He put the photo back in his pocket and started up his bike. " **You'll** be the one who burns." His eyes glowed red and his left eye began to burn away until he shook his head and returned to normal before driving off.

* * *

(Old shack, between the kingdoms of Vale and Vacuo)

Wolff landed the Bullhead near the old shack and they all got off, giving back the angry pilot control of his ship. He flew away soon after. Johnny parked his bike and approached the shack until he was stopped by a bullet impacting in front of his feet.

"Hold it!" A voice shouted from the open door. "Y'all better have a damn good reason why you're trespassing."

"Well, at least we know Blackheart didn't find this place." Johnny said to the others before turning his attention to the man. "We're looking for Carter Slade! This was the Caretaker's old shack and we thought he might've given Slade refuge here. We're in a spot of trouble."

The man walked out from the shadow of the doorway still pointing his rifle at them. He was an older man near his mid-fifties and short dark grey hair.

"He ain't here. So get on outta here and leave me the hell alone." The man looked over all of them and noticed Sara and his eyes widened.

"Is it to do with her?" The man asked, confusing everyone.

"Uh, yes." Johnny answered.

"Someone after her over San Venganza?"

"Yeah."

The man lowered his rifle and approached Johnny. When he was near enough he held out his hand for Johnny to shake, which he did.

"Carter Slade, and you're the poor sap that took my job." He let go of Johnny's hand.

"We've got a lot to talk about."


	11. San Venganza: The Phantom Ultimatum

Only one more chapter and the San Venganza arc is over. After this arc is concluded, we'll be including RWBY characters more and giving them more prominent roles in the future. Your patience and support have been awesome throughout this whole thing and we couldn't thank you enough.

 **Comic book characters mentioned: Jamie Jacobs** and **Flaming Star**.

* * *

(Caretaker's shack)

Sara looked at Johnny sitting somberly on the steps through the window. Carter handed her a glass for her to drink and looked out the window with her.

"How's he doin'?" Carter said.

"Not good." She said. "He's still reeling from last night."

"Good to know the Rider's still as 'nice' to people as I remember."

"Yes, he's very charming." Wolff said sarcastically.

"Anyway, as you may have noticed from my little greetin' earlier, I know why you're here."

"We know. You tend not to forget that kind of detail while it's being told to you at gunpoint." Wolff said before taking a sip of his drink.

"The only person I trusted who knew I was out here is dead and that kid brings the Rider to the doorstep with a guy who looks like a merc and a girl who looks like a post-apocalyptic ninja. Of course I got out my gun."

"….I'm not a merc." Wolff whispered dejectedly.

"Hold that thought." Sara said before going to and opening the front door. "Johnny? Come on, we're about to get the answers we came for." After a moment Johnny nodded, got up, and went inside. Once everyone was together Johnny nodded to Carter for him to explain. Carter walked over and put his hand on a candlestick on the wall.

"It'd probably be better to explain down here." He pulled down on the candlestick and floor in front of them opened to a staircase. "Say what you want about his shack but the Caretaker got some cool stuff in here."

After walking down they saw a room filled with books and strange relics. Sara reached out to touch one of the relics before Carter grabbed her hand.

"Woah, best not to touch those."

"Why? Are they dangerous?"

"'Fraid so. Those are the hair pins of the ol' emperor of Mistral. The man's avarice was imbued into 'em and now whoever touches 'em is instantly filled with an affliction of greed. Takin' whatever they want and hurtin' those who'll try to stop ya. They wouldn't be so dangerous if they hadn't gotten people killed. Besides, that's not what I wanted to show ya." He walked over to an old desk and pulled out an envelope from one of its drawers. He stood there holding it in his hands as he continued.

"Twenty years ago I was sent to collect a contract. It was a simple job, until I saw what the contract was and what it could do. Mephisto wanted the contract to be imbued with a pure soul so that it would powerful enough to do what he wanted it to do."

"An evil contract imbued with a pure soul? Wouldn't they not mix at all?" Sara asked.

"Evil can only sprout from the corruption of good. It's why demons gravitate to good people just as much as the bad ones, if not more. So, not only would Mephisto collect a thousand corrupted souls, he would also get one pure soul, which is more valuable than twenty of 'em."

"Wait." Johnny said, speaking for the first time since he arrived. "You're saying that the contract is a human being?"

"The contract worth a thousand souls is number one thousand and one."

The three of them were shocked and took a moment to collect themselves before Johnny spoke. "Keep going."

"The contract was a baby…barely a month old. Once I found out what was at stake, I took the child and ran. I must've ridden that horse for hours and just as I thought I was gonna collapse, I saw a kid bein' chased by bandits. I let the Rider take care of 'em and saved the kid before I passed out. When I came to, the kid had taken me to a medicine man who not only agreed to help me get the baby to their grandfather but to also get rid of the curse that haunted me. And he did."

"That explains how the Rider went back to Mephisto." Johnny said.

"Turns out that baby's grandfather was the old man himself, the Caretaker. Y'see, the town's population was one thousand and three, the other three being the two parents and their baby. The dad bein' the old man's own son. They fought to keep their kid safe but two people couldn't take on an entire town. We took the kid to Vale and made sure she had good people lookin' after her." The Caretaker looked up at Johnny and Wolff. "Think about it, the baby girl would be twenty now, adopted, raised in Vale, and the blood of Mephisto is comin' after her. I'm sure the three of you know each other well enough to know who I'm talkin' about."

Johnny and Wolff looked at each other in realization as the pieces all fell into place. They then turned to look at the one person the contract could be, Sara.

She looked at them in disbelief but made no effort to say anything. Carter walked over to her and held out the envelope.

"The old man wrote this for you in case he wasn't…here anymore." Sara looked at it and after a moment's hesitation she opened it to find a letter addressed to her.

 _Dear Sara,_

 _My granddaughter. Feels strange writing it down. I've kept it a secret for so long, it feels good to get it all out there in the open. If you've received this letter then that means I wasn't careful, typical, and I'm not around to tell you all these things myself. There's a lot that I wanted to tell you but I know I won't be able to write it all down so I'll write down the important details. I am, or was in this case, immortal. It's all to do with magic, which is not the greatest explanation but it's true. You however are not immortal, probably sounds like a missed opportunity to you but trust me, after living for however many thousand years you realize that you'd be better off being mortal. But the most important detail is that I had a son, your father, Curtis Vardan. And it was the greatest thing I had ever done with my life. In time, he grew up and decided he wanted to settle down and have a family of his own._

 _He moved to San Venganza, met your mother, and a few years later you came along. And you were the most beautiful thing to ever grace this planet, and I'm quoting your father on that. Your mother was the more protective of you. Her name was Rosie. She made sure people washed their hands before they held you, made sure you couldn't go near the stairs and hurt yourself, and she had you sleep in their room so if anything happened they'd be there. Not that your father was complaining, he was supportive throughout the whole thing. Your parents made sure that you were healthy and safe._

 _Then the demon Mephistopheles arrived. He promised to revitalize the town's dying land in exchange for all their souls. The townsfolk agreed but your parents wanted nothing to do with it since I made sure that your father knew from a young age the reality and the dangers of demons. But that monster wanted you to be the contract and even though they fought to keep you safe, they perished against the large numbers of the desperate townsfolk. And so, you became what was known as the contract of San Venganza. A man, Carter Slade, took you away from the town and brought you to a friend of mine, and I came to get you._

 _I wanted to take you home, raise you, and have a life. But I knew that Mephistopheles would come for you, and he did, put me through a lot of pain to get an answer but I gave him nothing. If I had taken you I would've been putting you at risk. So, I left you with your foster parents and told them that your birth parents fought to protect you. If they ever told you about where you came from, I wanted them to tell you that your parents died trying to save you._

 _You deserve that truth._

 _They loved you very much and so do I. I want you to know that what happened to you when you were a baby, being turned into a catalyst for this dark power, does NOT make you a bad person. You are good and you deserve to be happy so do not let this truth hinder you from living your life. I wish things could've turned out differently but we can't change the past no matter how much we want to. I want you to know that even though it was too dangerous to raise you, I did keep an eye on you. Not too close though, didn't want to put you at risk, came close a couple times but I managed to deal with it. You grew up to be a beautiful, kind, and wonderfully sarcastic young woman. You finished school, took care of your foster parents until they passed, and even opened up your own Dust shop. I can't describe how proud I am of you and I know you'll go on to do great things big and small. I wish you could've met me, tell each other stories, and lived our lives together._

 _I'm sorry for everything that you've been through. I wanted you to know that I love you and I hope that you live a long and wonderful life, Sara. You would make your parents proud._

 _Sincerely,_

 _You know, I've been alive so long I don't even remember my own name. Figures, right? I guess the only name I could give is the only other name that mattered just as much as dad._

 _Grandpa._

Sara's tears fell onto the letter. Reading the letter was very overwhelming for her and she couldn't stay down there.

"I think I'm gonna be sick." She said before running outside and vomiting into the dead bushes by the front porch.

She sat down on the ground with her head in her hands trying to comprehend all the information she was given. Wolff sat down beside her on the sand and put an arm around her which made her smile a little. Johnny looked at them and walked over near the horse stable to give them a moment alone. Carter followed Johnny with a book in hand.

"I've seen that look. Same look I used to make after **he** did somethin' pretty horrible."

Johnny sighed. "Yeah…he ever made you burn city blocks and all the people in them?"

"Nothin' that big, but other things that were just as bad. That ain't the only thing on your mind, I think."

"I let him out. I didn't resist, I didn't hold him back long enough to get him away from people, I just…people are dead because I let him out in the middle of the busy street." He leaned over a hitching rail with his head in his hands.

"Why'd you let him out?" Johnny looked at him. "I know why, pumpkin man and all, I mean why were you less restrictive?"

After taking a moment to reflect, Johnny spoke. "The night Beacon fell he helped my friend and revived the previous Fall Maiden. Then a few days ago he killed the Deathwatch lackeys that murdered another friend in front of me, and then helped my friends from Beacon stop a cannibalistic reverend."

"He actually helped people?" Carter asked shockingly.

"I thought that he was changing. That's why I stopped fighting the transformation cause...I thought that since he actually brought someone back to life he would start saving people."

"Y'know, there are people that the Rider does see as good. They don't show up often and it'll take many years for him to encounter another, but they do exist. I doubt that your friend and the Maiden would've been seen in such light but maybe he saw somethin' other than their darkness. That's just my guess, him and me haven't exactly been in contact so I don't know what he saw or why he did it. But that was a one-time thing. He is not gonna do that again for a very long time. I'm not sayin' you were wrong to think that he was tryin' to be good after bringing someone back from the dead, but now you know better. So keep him on a leash the best you can until you see Blackheart again, only then should you let him out." Carter then gave Johnny the book he was carrying. Johnny then started reading through it.

"The old man wrote books about every Ghost Rider that ever was. Wanted to make sure that everything they did would be remembered."

"This…this one's about me."

"Like I said, every Ghost Rider that ever was. Since he passed before the whole Beacon thing there are some blank pages in that book. Figured you should have it, maybe fill in a few."

"Thanks, Carter." Johnny then saw a wooden cross just behind the cabin and walked over to find that it was a grave.

"I thought the Caretaker was buried at the cemetery."

"He is. Remember that kid I told you about, the one being chased by bandits?" After Johnny nodded Carter tilted his head toward the grave, signifying who it was meant for.

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright. His name was Jamie Jacobs and he stuck by me ever since that night. He died trying to save a little kid. The kid survived in case you were wonderin'. He took me to that medicine man, Flaming Star, and he was the one who made me the Phantom Rider. Gave me the clothes, the cape, the mask, and the horse." A loud neigh came from the stable that caught their attention.

"Speaking of…" Carter walked to the stable and inside was a white horse.

"His name's Banshee. Named him that for his loud neigh."

"Really? Hadn't noticed." Johnny said while massaging his aching ear. Carter chuckled then threw in some hay for Banshee to eat.

"He's just a little hungry, that's all. Here, you can pet him." Johnny walked over carefully and began petting along Banshee's neck.

"Blackheart said that he needed me alive for his plan to work. What did he mean by that?" Johnny asked, still petting Banshee.

"In order for him to obtain that power to merge the worlds together, the contract would need to be taken back to where it came from in order for the power to work."

"San Venganza." Johnny said in realization.

"The Caretaker used his magic to hide the town between dimensions. It's still there but no one could interact with it, it'd look like they were just walking through an empty space of desert. The old man tied that magic to the one being that Mephisto would never suspect, can you guess who?"

"Zarathos."

"Huh, so that's his name. Anyway, Mephisto knew that the Caretaker hid the town away but never thought that the power to bring it back was with the servant who hated him more than anyone else. How better to get your kicks than to never tell the boss you hate how to get more power."

"Yep, sounds like just like him. If Mephisto never knew, how do you think Blackheart found out?"

"Kid, I haven't dealt with demons in twenty years and I've been retired for five. I don't know all the answers. My best guess is that it's probably whoever broke him outta Hell."

"I don't know. Blackheart didn't start following Sara until a few weeks after he got out of hell. If the person who broke him out knew about her he would've gone straight after her."

"Good point. What really matters now is keeping that girl safe."

"Johnny!" Sara shouted

"I had to jinx it." Carter said.

Johnny and Carter ran to the front of the house to find Wolff and Sara with their weapons drawn. They both saw that they were pointing their weapons at Deathwatch who was just standing in front of them with his hands behind his back. Carter grabbed his repeater rifle and pointed it at the demon while Johnny grabbed the chain from his bike parked next to them. Deathwatch looked up at the sun and back at Johnny.

"Really? You have no power. What are you going to do? Twirl them at me?" That annoyed Johnny and he wrapped his chain around Deathwatch's neck, pulled him closer, and punched him in the face knocking him down.

"That feel like a twirl?" Johnny said. Deathwatch then yanked down on the chain, pulling Johnny closer, and then kicking him back as Deathwatch undid the chain around his neck. Wolff, Sara, and Carter started shooting at Deathwatch to no effect and stopped firing soon after.

"I feel like your friends have learned nothing after these past few da-" Deathwatch was then sent flying backwards by a ball of electricity fired from Wolff's rifle attachment.

"I learned that demons and ghosts don't really do well against that." Wolff said.

"If you're all quite done, I'm actually only here to talk not take the Rider or the girl."

"How can we be so sure?" Carter asked.

"Because I would've just taken them instead of standing around getting hit and shot at."

"Alright, if you're here to talk then talk." Johnny said.

"I'm no longer partnered with Blackheart. I don't approve of his plans and wish them to not come to fruition."

"That's…an unexpected change." Wolff said.

"Hardly. He is unbearable and his plan to rule over a new Hell would disrupt my way of living. Believe it or not I actually like the world just as it is and Blackheart's goals would destroy all of it."

"Ok, so we'll keep Sara out of his reach and make sure he never gets her." Johnny said.

"You fool. He'll find her. He was the one who sent me here."

"How did he find us?" Sara asked. Deathwatch nodded towards Wolff and they all turned to him.

"He's lying. I'm not telling Blackheart anything! You guys have been with me the whole time and you haven't seen me call him or anything."

"Quiet you imbecile. He's not a traitor, Blackheart placed a tracking incantation on him back when they first met in the forest. Come on, even you had to wonder how he and his disciples managed to find you wherever you went."

"He must've placed it on you while he was warning you." Johnny said.

"He can do that? I didn't hear him say anything."

"He didn't have to. Not all spells are restricted to verbal incantations." Deathwatch said.

"So, what did Blackheart ask you to do when you got here?" Carter asked.

"To deliver a message: You are to bring the girl to San Venganza before nightfall or people all over the world will die."

"If I give her to him everyone will die anyway. He hasn't exactly thought this through, has he?" Johnny said.

"Actually, he has. He knows that you can stop him before he uses the contract's power, he's challenging you to try and stop him, but you can't stop him from hurting people before that happens if you don't go along."

"How? Last time I checked, he's only got one disciple left. No offense to the man, but Jack isn't exactly an apocalypse bringer."

"He isn't going to use the disciples, he's going to use their deals."

"I don't follow."

"Typical. The locations in which the deals took place act as nodes for his new powers to spread across the continents. Invisible to the eye but if he funnels all of his energy through them…"

"They'll amplify the mystical energy going through."

"Creating storms and earthquakes that'll rip the continents apart." Deathwatch finished.

"He can do that?!" Sara asked.

"With his new powers he can."

"You make it sound like its happened before."

"He tried doing it once with the powers he already had, it wouldn't have been as destructive but it would've heavily damaged cities and other settlements. His father is content with how things are. People making deals, the world already being chaotic as it is, etc. and he wasn't so keen on Blackheart tearing it apart. So, after I beat him his father took him and imprisoned him in Hell for what he was trying to do."

"If Mephisto is so content, does that mean he's not interested in the contract anymore and won't be coming after me?" Sara said.

"Maybe, but let's not test that theory. Alright, so let's think back: Torchwick and Pressman made their deals in Vale which places that node in Sanus, and Hag and her gang made their deal in Windpath which covers Anima. We can rule out Menagerie since I doubt he has much interest in it."

"He does not." Deathwatch affirmed.

"Figured, so that just leaves Solitas. We haven't encountered any 'deal makers' from there, but I can't help but to think of one demon who might reside there. Ruling his 'empire' from within the kingdom of the rich and powerful." Johnny suggested to Deathwatch, who only let out a short huff.

"So, what kinda deal did you two make?" Carter asked.

"In return for my services I would be unaffected by the merging of both worlds."

"I thought the currency for a deal was souls." Wolff said.

"He's a demon from Hell, he doesn't have a soul to offer. The energy harnessed from a deal doesn't have to be specific, but souls are more valuable. It's usually not a good idea for the one who accepts the offered deal to walk away from it." Johnny explained.

"If you defeat Blackheart I wouldn't have to worry about what he might do to me. Like I said, go to San Venganza, lure him there, and you'll have a chance to defeat him. If you do, he would be gone and the nodes along with him. If not, everyone will die."

"Ok. Me and Wolff will go there and beat him while you stay here with Carter." Johnny said to Sara.

"That won't work" Deathwatch said. "He's seen her, sensed the contract's energy back when he started following her. He'll sense that she's not around when he follows the mercenary's incantation."

"For the last time, I'm not a mercenary!" Wolff shouted.

"Regardless, the plan will fail if you do not bring her."

"Will you help us stop him?" Johnny asked.

"No. After this, I am washing my hands clean of Blackheart and those he involved with him."

"So this is goodbye?"

"For now. Next time we meet, I will not be so easily knocked around."

"Good to know." Deathwatch made to leave before Johnny stopped him. "It was you who told Blackheart what the contract really was, wasn't it?"

"He had me search for that blasted town for days and I couldn't find anything. I had no intention of telling him of the contract's true nature, but it was only after his outbursts became too unbearable did I tell him."

"Wow, the baby threw a tantrum and you spoiled him so he would shut up." Carter said.

"If by 'tantrum' you mean 'needless murder of innocent people to relieve him of his anger' then yes, he threw a 'tantrum'. He was drawing attention and threatened to destroy me since the deal gave him the power to do so, so I made him stop."

"Good god." Wolff said.

"He may not be able to help with this one. But I'm sure you are more than up to the task. If not, then I'll be spending my last day on Remnant enjoying a glass of that vintage wine I always wanted to drink." Deathwatch began evaporating into smoke. "Good luck, Rider." He then disappeared.

"What do we do?" Wolff asked.

Johnny sighed. "I guess we go save the world. It's not like we have other options."

"Kid, if the plan is to meet him before nightfall, you won't be able to bring the Rider out." Carter said.

"I know, but we gotta take our chances. If we don't bring her or we fail, the world will end either way. If we go there's a slight chance we can save it."

"I agree." Sara said.

"Look, girl. You know what'll happen if Blackheart gets his hands on ya."

"I do, but I can't stand by and let people die knowing I could've helped stop it."

"And I've come this far, why walk away from it now?" Wolff said.

"You kids are freakin' crazy. No wonder the old man liked you so much." Carter said to Johnny.

"Thanks for everything, Carter." Johnny held his hand out for him to shake, only for Carter to laugh at the gesture.

"Hold that thought." Carter went back into the shack. After a few minutes he came back out wearing white boots covered in old mud, white pants under a dirty pair of white cowboy chaps, white gun belt with two chrome revolvers with white grips, white gloves, a dirty white dress shirt, dirty white low rider duster, and his repeater rifle slung over his shoulder.

"You seem like you're gonna need all the help you can get. Thought I'd offer my services."

"Carter, I couldn't ask you to do that."

"No, you wouldn't. That's why I'm just coming along regardless. Not with the cape, though. Figured I'd look better without it." He said with a chuckle.

"Thank you." Carter smiled and then put on his white mask and white hat. He handed Johnny a shotgun in a black holster for him to use (Remnant version of a sawed off 1887 Winchester). Johnny put it on his back over his right shoulder and wrapped the chain around his left shoulder.

Carter whistled and Banshee came running out of the stable and over to him. He mounted Banshee and lifted Sara onto the horse.

"I was the one who took her from that god forsaken town, figured I should be the one to take her back." Johnny nodded at that. He and Wolff then got on the bike.

"You ready?" Johnny asked.

Carter, once again the Phantom Rider, nodded. "Let's ride."

* * *

(San Venganza. Four hours later, midafternoon)

They all dismounted and made their way to the empty space.

"This is it?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah, no doubt. I'll never forget this place." Carter said. "You may not be able to summon him but you can sense his power, right?"

"Sometimes."

"Ok, good. Now, look deep inside and feel the energy tied to this place. Can you feel it?" Johnny closed his eyes and after a few moments, he could feel the energy.

"I feel it."

"Good. Now, reach your hand out and let it flow through your arm. Let it go."

Johnny did just that and once he opened his eyes, the town was there in front of them. Dirty, aged, and decrepit. There was an archway with two large wooden doors. They could all hear a whooshing noise and saw a dark mass in the sky that flew into the town, signaling that Blackheart had arrived.

"Everyone ready?" Johnny asked to which everyone nodded. "Here we go."

Johnny then opened the doors and they all entered the one place where their long and arduous journey would end, San Venganza.


	12. San Venganza: Ghost Town

We're finally here! The end of San Venganza! You guys have been supportive throughout this whole thing and we couldn't be more thankful to you. You've been with us this far and we hope you stick around for the adventures to come afterwards.

* * *

(San Venganza)

They walked through the empty run down desert town, passing the abandoned carts and barrels, and all they could hear was the wind and the sound of faint whispers.

"Anyone else hearing that?" Sara asked.

"It's the spirits of the townsfolk. Since no one collected 'em, they've been stuck here since their allotted time was up." Carter said.

One of the whispers spoke. " _She's here._ "

"Ok, that is creepy." Wolff said.

Wolff noticed one of the many barrels labeled with a fire emblem had fallen over. It was full of Dust that had spilled out a long time ago.

"There are a lot of Dust barrels around here." Wolff said.

"This place was a minin' town. Their main export was Dust, hence the many barrels." Carter explained.

As they were walking, Johnny saw that the path near the end curved to the right to the middle of town.

"The town square just up ahead?"

"Yep, just to the right." Carter said.

"Could you guys just give us a minute?" Johnny asked gesturing to Sara. Wolff and Carter stepped to the side so Johnny and Sara could talk.

"What is it?" Sara asked.

"Look, um…a lot in your life has changed these past few weeks, especially during the last few days. Understatement of the year, I know, but you've been introduced to a world of realms, magic, and monsters you never knew existed. You've seen people die in front of you, found out about a grandfather you didn't know you had who wrote to you about parents you never knew, and you've had to deal with it all in a short amount of time. That could take a toll on someone. I wanted to make sure you were ok."

"Oh, well um…I'm not gonna lie, it's all been quite a lot to deal with. And now, facing what is most likely certain death, it doesn't seem so daunting anymore. I can't really explain it. Maybe if we survive this, I'll find the right words for it." She finished with a smile, which Johnny returned.

"Sounds like a plan."

They walked to the end of the path to the town square. In the middle was a ring of stone slabs with Blackheart standing in front of it in his human form.

"My father told me once that inside this ring of rock was a flag pole. The symbol of the proud mining town of San Venganza waving up on high. A nice place to call home." Blackheart chuckled and gestured his hands to the buildings falling apart around them. "Look at it now." He turned to look at the group. "Ah! 'He Who Rides the Night Winds' himself. The Phantom Rider! I am honored by your presence. I thought you retired."

"Thought you were imprisoned."

"Got out."

"I can see that."

"Would you believe me if I said it was for good behavior?" Blackheart smiled.

"No."

"Good to see you're still sharp in your old age. Oh, and what a delight, you brought the contract."

"My name is Sara!"

"Didn't ask." Sara moved to draw her pistol but Johnny placed his hand on her wrist so she wouldn't.

"We came here as asked. We were also told that we could try and stop you. It was some sort of challenge or something?" Johnny recounted.

"That's right. And since I'm feeling generous, I'll give you the first shot."

Blackheart stood there smiling, and with that blessing, they all drew their guns and opened fire on him. He stumbled back a little from the barrage but was not affected. They all charged forward with Johnny whipping his chain around Blackheart's right arm only for him to pull Johnny in and head-butt him in the nose. Phantom Rider drew his pistols and fired until he was close enough to hit him in the face with the butt of his right pistol which knocked him to the right a little towards Wolff's rifle. Blackheart narrowly dodged an energy blast, grabbed the rifle, and crushed it in his hand rendering it useless. He threw Wolff over his shoulder and into Phantom Rider just before Sara charged in swinging her sword. He knocked it out of her hand and grabbed her by the throat. The others charged in again only for him to knock them all back with a swing of his arm.

"You know, I actually expected this to be dragged out a little longer. I guess you're not really much without your monster after all. So much for a challenge."

He turned Sara around and placed his left hand on her shoulder and his right on her head, keeping her in place. The words of the contract manifested in white lettering that floated around them as he spoke.

" _Animarum sanguinem super contractus tenentur_." (The souls of this contract are bound by the blood spilled upon it). Sara's eyes went white as he continued.

" _Mille enim mortalium animos lucra reliquerunt. Nunc tenentem convenire declaraverit tempus colligendi_." (The one thousand have relinquished their spirits for their mortal gains. And now, the one who holds this agreement has declared that the time has come to collect.)

He stepped back with his arms extended outward while Sara still stood there with the power of the contract overwhelming her. As Johnny was lying on the ground holding his bloodied nose in pain, a decayed hand came out from the ground near his face. The figure came up without disturbing the dirt, looked at Johnny, shrieked, and flew into the air and entered Blackheart. The spirits throughout the town began to manifest and fly into the demon. Johnny and the others stood up as the storm of souls flew through the air.

"Wolff, shoot him!" Johnny yelled.

Wolff's crushed rifle sparked as he held it. "I can't!"

As the last few souls were being absorbed, Johnny quickly wrapped his chain around Sara and yanked her away from Blackheart before her soul could be collected as well. Her eyes returned to normal as Johnny helped her up. They all looked at Blackheart to see the dark smoke clear and saw him trembling as he was adjusting to his new power. He turned to them to show that his true form was trying to manifest. His eyes were red, his fingernails were long and sharp, and the facial protrusions of his true form had blended with his human one.

"That's much better." He said after a deep inhale. "But it's incomplete." He said looking at Sara.

"Just try and take her." Johnny said.

"Try? I didn't **try** wiping the floor with all of you just a minute ago, I just did it. It took nothing to swat you away like bugs." He took a moment to think. "Tell you what, I'm still feeling generous and I want this to be somewhat challenging. In five minutes, I'll unleash one thousand corpses on you. And be sure to smile, there'll be people watching." He gestured to the sky to a damaged Bullhead with a camera attached to it.

"Even though the CCT is botched the connection shouldn't be a problem. I'll send the signals through the power nodes to every screen on the planet. It'll start broadcasting once the five minutes are up. I want everyone to watch as you fight hopelessly to stay alive until you're eventually ripped apart. And you're five minutes start right now. I'd wish you good luck but let's be honest, I hate you too much to do that." He said with a smile before evaporating into smoke.

"I don't get it. If he's so powerful, why didn't he just kill us and complete the whole 'reshaping the world' process." Wolff asked.

"Why? Because he's a murderous psychopath who's been imprisoned in Hell for two years, he's bored!" Johnny said looking around to see what they could use.

"We're in for a hell of a fight. Here, take this since Blackheart trashed yours." Phantom Rider gave his rifle to Wolff.

"Ok, so let's think. Blackheart is gonna send an army of souls to fight us and hope that their numbers will overpower us."

"Right." Wolff said.

"So, if we cut off a few of their numbers with a big concussive move, then we can cut down the rest with no problem. Hopefully."

"Ok, so what 'big concussive' thing are we gonna use?"

Phantom Rider and Sara looked to each other in realization and then turned to Johnny.

"You're crazy, kid." Phantom Rider chuckled.

"Think about it, Wolff. This is a town for Dust miners. What's the biggest export of this town that's been left in barrels all over the place?" Johnny said with a smile. Wolff looked around at the dozens of abandoned Dust barrels all around the town.

"Carter's right. You **are** crazy." Wolff smiled.

They started setting up the barrels around town and pouring Dust lines between the barrels for a chain reaction ignition. While setting them up, Johnny saw some rusted but sharp silver ware through the window of a house and, using some old tape, attached them to the knuckles of his left glove.

After everything was in place the Bullhead floated over and steadied the camera, signifying that their five minutes were up. They heard the shrieks soon after.

"Ok, it's time!" Johnny shouted. Phantom Rider ran past Sara, throwing her sword back to her, before getting into position.

* * *

(Kingdom of Vale)

Citizens passed the rubble that was once their homes and would have kept walking until their scrolls beeped from their pockets, including the former Beacon professors. They opened them to see Blackheart's half-morphed face.

"Ladies and gentlemen, humans and Faunus alike, I am Blackheart, the son of the devil."

(Kingdom of Vacuo)

"You'll probably find that hard to believe but frankly I really just do not care. In a few moments, I will bridge the worlds of Hell and Remnant together and rule over that new kingdom." People were confused and panicked by the bold statement.

(Kingdom of Atlas)

"Now, most of you won't survive the merge and the mere thought of it brings me so much joy to know that I'll be rid of a majority of you annoying worms." People were looking to each other in worry while Deathwatch sat in his mansion drinking a glass of wine and watching Blackheart's speech on his screen. He raised his glass at the screen.

"Here's to you Rider." Deathwatch then drank everything in the glass.

Meanwhile, at the Schnee estate, Weiss looked at her scroll with a concerned expression.

(Kingdom of Mistral)

"But, there is a very small fleeting bit of hope. If the people you're about to see can somehow manage to defeat me, then you're world will continue as if nothing ever happened." People's attention were further grabbed by that last detail.

Elsewhere in Anima, Ruby and the others watched intently as the events unfolded.

(San Venganza)

Blackheart was floating in the air in front of the camera as he continued his speech.

"So, take your seats, place your bets, and heat up some popcorn. The fight for the fate of your world begins…now." Blackheart disappeared and the camera was on Johnny and the others.

* * *

They waited to see the oncoming horde but saw nothing. Johnny tried to strike a match to ignite the Dust trail but couldn't get a flame to spark. A hand then broke through the window in front of him and startled him enough to drop the match as he fell. The spirit crawled through the window and moved towards him to attack until Johnny drew his shotgun at it and fired, sending it to the ground lifeless again. Johnny quickly grabbed the match and struck a flame.

"Now! Do it now!" He shouted and dropped his match onto the Dust. The rest did the same and ran as the horde began to surround them.

They all shot at the creatures as they ran through the town trying to make it back to the square. After the barrels were finally ignited, they began to explode all over the town and wiping out any spirits in the blasts. Some of the buildings crumbled apart and fell on any of the horde giving chase.

They all converged at the square and vaulted over and into the middle of the ring of stone, reloaded their weapons, and took aim. Whatever was left of the horde ran towards them and they opened fire. As they kept firing, the remains of the spirits began to pile up around the ring and the rest tried to climb over them, only to be met with bullets. The ones that got too close were hit by Wolff and Carter, sliced by Sara with her sword, and punched/stabbed by Johnny's glove. After stabbing one of the spirits in the face, it clawed at his hand and ripped the knives off, including the part of his glove that covered his index finger. Johnny quickly dispatched of it.

Everyone across the world was glued to their screens. Glynda and the other professors, Ruby and the rest of the team, Seer in Vale, Yang in Patch, Weiss in Atlas, and Blake wherever she was. It was hard to see their faces but Ruby, Jaune, and the rest of the team knew who they were. They were hoping for the best.

Johnny shot the last of the spirits with his last round. After all of the creatures were disposed of, they all fell down tired, catching their breath surrounded by a ring of decayed bodies. They all heard the sound of clapping and then the bodies turn into sand that returned to Blackheart standing in the shade of the buildings.

"Now **that** was what I was hoping for!" He shouted with a smile. "I honestly did not think that was gonna be as fun as I was expecting, but you four really took me by surprise. I can do it again if you'd like. Oh, but you're out of ammo, we could make it a brawl. What do you say, want to face one thousand souls again with nothing but your fists?" They didn't answer.

"Hm, that's what I thought." He said disappointedly. "You put up a good fight, but you can't beat me and my new army. How about I offer you a deal instead?"

"I'm gettin' so sick of that word." Carter said.

"Tell me about it." Johnny responded.

"You give me the contract and I'll make your deaths quick. I mean, you're gonna die anyway, why not go out painlessly?"

"He's awfully smug." Sara said in an annoyed tone.

"Don't do it, kid. We didn't fight this hard for nothin'."

Johnny could only sit in defeat. No weapons, no strategy, and no Rider. He and Wolff did their best, but there wasn't anything more they could do to keep her safe. He was almost going to think that Blackheart had won, until he saw his exposed index finger in his leg's shadow. He noticed that there was no skin but bone and there was a faint flame surrounding it. He looked up to see that Blackheart was still standing in the shadows and got an idea.

"Alright! You win. We'll be right over!" Johnny shouted.

"What?!" Sara said completely shocked.

"Johnny, what the hell?!" Wolff protested.

"I've got an idea." He moved his hand into a shadow to show them. "But I'm gonna need you to trust me."

* * *

After a few moments, Johnny and Sara walked over to meet with Blackheart. Johnny stood just a few inches from the shadows, and looked at the grinning demon.

"If we do this, it's a quick and painless death, right?" Johnny asked.

"Yes, quite painless."

"You give us your word?"

Blackheart sighed and made an x over where his heart would be if he had one. "Happy?" Johnny just looked at him. "Right, dumb question."

Johnny looked at Sara and then back at Blackheart. "I guess we have a deal." Johnny extended his right hand to shake. Blackheart looked at it, smiled, and then shook it.

When he tried to move his hand away he found that he couldn't. When he looked up he saw that Johnny was smiling. He tried pulling away harder but only managed to bring Johnny into the shadows where his head ignited and the Spirit of Vengeance was reawakened.

Everyone watching their screens was stunned by the transformation.

Port interrupted Glynda and the other professors watching. "Wait, that's…" He began to remember.

Yang on the floor, leaned closer toward the screen in the living room.

Ruby and the others cheered. "Woohoo! Yeah, show him who's boss!" Ruby shouted.

Deathwatch could only smile.

"Deathwatch! Help me!" Blackheart shouted.

"He's abandoned you. You'll have no salvation from me." The Rider said.

The Rider, with his free hand, punched Blackheart in the stomach. He stumbled back a bit before the Rider caught him with an uppercut with his right hand. After stumbling back a bit more, the Rider grabbed him by the collar and head-butted him. After he was a good enough distance away, the Rider wrapped his chain around Blackheart, threw him up into the air, and brought him back down into the inside of the stone ring, making a small crater. The Rider chuckled as he moved out of the way for his Hell Cycle to speed past and knock Blackheart into the church behind the ring, having the entire front of it crumble down on top of him.

Seeing the sunlight a few inches in front of him, the Rider punched into the wall of the building next to him, ripped out a large chunk of it, and walked into the sunlight with the shade of the piece of wall shielding him from the light. When he made it to Blackheart stepping out from the rubble, once he made it to the shade of the rubble of the church he threw the wall at Blackheart, sending him flying backwards. After getting back up, he lunged at Ghost Rider in his true form and picked him up by the throat. His true form began to change from the new power. He grew small spikes on his arms and swirled markings along his body.

"I think I'm not gonna waste any more time and clear the way for my new world." Blackheart's red eyes and his new markings began to glow as he roared into the sky.

He sent his power through the nodes that manifested as burning circles in the sky above the kingdoms of Vale, Mistral, and Atlas. The circles created storms that were about to wreak havoc on the cities below.

The Rider punched at the claw holding him to no effect. His chain sat a few feet away in the sun and Sara ran over to pick it up.

"Now!" She shouted behind her.

Blackheart and the Ghost Rider could hear the roar of an engine. They both looked to see what it was until suddenly, flying through the air, was the Phantom Rider on Johnny's motorcycle. He crashed it into Blackheart, sending him back, and letting go of the Ghost Rider.

"Ghost Rider!" Sara shouted before she threw him his chain.

Blackheart got up and saw the bike lying on its side with the Phantom Rider next to it trying to get up.

"Slade!" Blackheart shouted. He walked towards him as Carter crawled backwards away from him. He pulled out one of his pistols and pulled the trigger only to find that it was empty.

"Ah, damn it."

"I'm going to do to you what my father should have done twenty years ago. Put you in the ground!" He raised his claw only for the Ghost Rider to wrap his chain around it. He dragged him down closer to him and Blackheart summoned more spirits to deal with him. As they grabbed and clawed onto him, Ghost Rider roared and burnt them into nothingness. He wrapped the rest of his chain around Blackheart and pulled him in close.

"All these years and I couldn't find a way to be rid of you." Ghost Rider said.

Shrieking could be heard. Sara and Wolff looked behind them to see the one thousand spirits coming back to finish the job. Sara readied her sword for one final stand.

"But now, in succeeding in gaining your ascension, you've doomed yourself. Because now, you have all that power, all their souls. A thousand souls to burn." Blackheart began to shake.

"No." Blackheart said.

"Look into my eyes. Your souls are stained by the blood of the innocent. Feel their pain."

"NOOOOO!" Blackheart could see and feel all the wrongs that all the souls had done, including all the things he had done.

The souls stopped just in front of Wolff and Sara and shouted in pain and grief. They continued to shout until it was over. They burned away into ash and were absorbed back into the sands of the town. Ghost Rider kept staring into the screaming Blackheart until he was silent. The Rider grabbed his chain and pulled turning Blackheart into ash. All of his deals were now void, his incantations over Wolff were gone, and the nodes disappeared along with the storms they created.

Citizens across the world were cheering, Port picked up Oobleck in a bear hug, Yang shouted "Yeah!" and Zwei barked happily, Blake breathed a sigh of relief, and Ruby and the others cheered loudly.

"Woohoo! Yeah! Ghost Rider saves the world!" Ruby shouted.

"Yeah, go Johnny!" Nora cheered.

Ghost Rider stepped back into the sun and reverted back into Johnny. He turned to the others and smiled, and they returned it in kind. They were all then startled by the Bullhead that had recorded the whole incident crashing into the town and exploding on impact.

"So, it's over?" Sara asked.

"Yeah, it's all over." Johnny said. Sara smiled and hugged him. He hugged back and Wolff laughed, walked over, and hugged them both. They were interrupted by Carter with his mask off and walking Johnny's bike over to them.

"I think this belongs to you." Johnny smiled, got on his bike, and tried turning on the engine only for it to cut out.

"Yeah, it might be more damaged than I thought." Carter said.

"Yep, that'll happen when you ram into a near indestructible hell spawn." Wolff said.

"I think I can do with a walk." Johnny said.

"It took us four hours to get here by vehicle. You sure you wanna walk all the way back in the scorching heat, especially after what we've just been through?" Sara asked. Wolff then got an idea as he looked over at a large cart that survived the Dust barrel explosions.

"Actually…" Wolff pulled out some Dust cartridges from his pouch. "I've got an idea that's much better than walking."

* * *

Carter and Sara rode Banshee into the direction of the shack. While behind them on the old cart that they found was Wolff and Johnny, with Johnny's bike strapped in with his chain, and Wolff using the wind Dust cartridges he was carrying to propel them down the road.

"Woohoo!" Wolff shouted as they made their way back.

* * *

(Caretaker's shack, four hours later)

Johnny and Sara stood out on the front porch, looking over the sand.

"So, what'll you do now that your life is yours again?" Johnny asked.

"Well, now that the power of the contract is gone, I think I'll move back to Vale and probably help out with rebuilding. I asked Carter all I could about my grandfather, so maybe Seer can shed some more light on certain things that Carter may not know about. Maybe I'll even apply for a job at her club."

"Yeah, she did seem a little understaffed when we visited."

"By understaffed you mean all on her own?"

"She's not on her own. I saw an employee of the month award when we walked in so she's got one person at least." They both chuckled.

"Enough about me, what's in store for you?" Johnny looked around for a quick second before responding.

"I think I'm gonna stay here for a little bit. It's quiet, it's away from people who could get hurt, apart from Carter of course, I'll have to set up a sleeping arrangement that requires a little bit of distance."

"Well, if you're ever back in Vale, you know where to find me." Johnny nodded before she hugged him.

"Thank you for everything that you've done for me."

"Anytime. I'll see you around, Sara." Sara walked towards the cart and waited while Wolff walked up to Johnny.

"And what about you? What's next for the great Michael Wolff, guardian of the contract and not-mercenary as he so constantly reminds everyone?"

"Cute. I think I'm gonna stick with Sara. Not much work out here for me in the desert and I've stuck by her this whole time, figured I'd stick by her a little longer. Besides, I didn't see any security at Seer's club, so there may be a job opening for me too." They both looked out and could only hear the sound of the wind. Wolff chuckled after a moment.

"What?" Johnny asked.

"Nothing, it's just…we came a long way from the circus, didn't we?"

"Yeah, we did."

"Well, couldn't have done any of this without you, man. I'm glad we found each other again."

"Me too." They both hugged and soon let go.

"I'll see you around, man." Wolff said.

"You too." Wolff walked towards the cart and got on with Sara next to him.

"You've got enough Dust to get us to the next town?" Sara asked.

"Yep. The town will have a vehicle or two we can use to get back to Vale." Wolff looked over at her. "You gonna be ok?"

She took a moment to think. "Yeah, I think I will be." She said with a smile.

Wolff then clicked the cartridges and the cart moved down the road to the next town. Carter walked over and stood next to Johnny.

"What do you have in mind, Carter? Got any plans?"

"I think I've been retired for too long. I think it's about time to be the Phantom Rider again."

"Really? Well, I'm glad that people are gonna be a lot safer now that the Phantom Rider will live again."

"Yeah, and you can be my sidekick." Carter said with a smile.

"Uh, **your** sidekick? Need I remind you who took down the son of the devil and saved the world?"

"If I hadn't a crashed that bike into 'em you wouldn't have been able to have done that."

"I'm still mad at you for that." They both made their way into the shack.

"It'll heal up, don't worry about it."

"That doesn't make me feel better." Carter closed the door and moved to start dinner.

* * *

(Kingdom of Atlas, Deathwatch's mansion)

Deathwatch sat at his desk drinking the last of his wine rewatching the footage of Ghost Rider's battle with Blackheart.

"You escaped certain doom with the Rider's victory." The figure before Deathwatch said.

"I had faith that he would prevail. Blackheart's overconfidence is what always cost him his victories." Deathwatch said. "I'm actually surprised to see you after all these years. Are you planning something?"

"I am, but I've decided to take a little break from my search to find something just as intriguing." The figure gestured to the footage. "I came to ask if you knew where he might be."

Deathwatch took a moment to look at the footage then looked back up. "Sorry, I can't help you." Deathwatch lied, keeping his promise to be rid of all those involved with Blackheart.

"That is a shame. Then I shall make my leave." The figure turned to leave.

"I never did understand. Why do you hate him so much, Centurious?"

The helmeted figure turned to Deathwatch. "Let's just say we have a shared and complicated history. Goodnight, Deathwatch." Centurious then vanished into thin air.

"Goodnight, old friend." Deathwatch finished the wine and turned the screen that had a still image of the burning face of the Ghost Rider off.

* * *

We've made it to the end of this arc. The next arc will feature two very important characters teaming up with Ghost Rider to battle the threat of Centurious. These two characters are Blake Belladonna and Qrow Branwen, and the three of them will share the same name as the next arc, **Hearts of Darkness**.


	13. Hearts of Darkness: The Search

Hello, everyone! We're back with a brand new story arc and this time we have RWBY characters back into the fray as major characters. We also wanted to point out that the crystal in this story is the Crystal of Souls and NOT the Soul Gem. Like we said, the overall story is all Ghost Rider based and the Infinity Gems aren't exclusive to Ghost Rider. Also, we added an original character that is based on Doctor Septimus Pretorius from Bride of Frankenstein who was famous for the saying "To a new world of gods and monsters". Since this story is about gods and monsters and seeing how RWBY has an affinity with basing their characters on other characters from past stories, we thought of adding our own little tribute to the Universal Monsters. Now that all of that is out of the way, we hope you enjoy.

* * *

(Vale News Network station)

"Hello and welcome back to the morning news, I'm Lisa Lavender. Right now, I am joined with former Signal professor Doctor Sinopia Petorious to discuss the events that took place at the rediscovered mining town of San Venganza one month ago. Doctor, thank you for joining us."

"Thank you for having me."

"I wanted to ask you, what are your thoughts on the whole event?"

"Well, Lisa, I think that we've now been exposed to a world that we never really knew existed. We thought that the closest things we had to actual monsters were the Creatures of Grimm, but now we know that the monsters that we feared were under our beds, in our closets, and in the shadows of our nightmares are real, and that they are far more powerful than we imagined. Everyone witnessed this Blackheart conjure almost catastrophic storms over all of the kingdoms on the planet and threatened to merge our reality, our world, with another, proving that other realities exist separately from our own which is a very big discovery, one of the biggest discoveries in our history. The world was shown that magic is real and that there are beings out there that use it to cause great devastation. That's not to say that every individual who may be able to use said magic is evil, but the ones that are should not be taken lightly."

"Those are very bold claims, Doctor, but I want to move on to our next topic for discussion. What do you think of this flame headed man, this Ghost Rider?"

"Ghost Rider?" Confusion apparent in his voice.

"From the bits of audio we were able to enhance, we learned that the unidentified woman who was present shouted that to the man engulfed in flames."

"I see. Well, he is quite frankly a mystery to me."

"How so?"

"None of us know who he really is, **what** he really is, if he fights for us, or if he only fights for himself. He could be a savior or he could be the exact opposite. We don't know exactly whose side he's on. In a world where people wield powers that practically make them gods, it is always beneficial to treat every situation with an air of caution."

"Another bold claim made by you, Doctor. Isn't calling them 'gods' a bit of an exaggeration?"

"If humans with powerful semblances and the Creatures of Grimm pale in comparison to individuals that can raise undead armies and warp reality, then what other comparisons are suitable? You see, Lisa, I believe that the old world where the most powerful things on the planet being humans, Faunus, and the Grimm is gone. Now we live in a **new** world of gods and monsters."

"I believe that's all the time we have. Thank you, Doctor Petorious for joining us." He nodded in appreciation.

"Coming up we have the latest details on the relief effort in Windpath, how its citizens are recovering, and the details surrounding the perpetrators of the attack. All coming up after the break."

* * *

(Unknown motel café, Sanus)

" _…_ _All coming up after the break._ " The screen above the counter then changed to commercial.

"Man, can you believe that guy?" A man said with a coffee mug in hand. " _We live in a new world of gods and_ -blah, blah, blah. Yeah, that stuff was scary but I'm more concerned about the guys that wrecked my hometown. Who knows what the White Fang will do next?"

"I feel you, but how does a guy or thing or whatever he was who tried to destroy the world not take a bigger priority?" The woman next to him asked.

"That guy's dead so he ain't gonna try and do that again, and because he's dead, we can now go back to focusing on the threats we were already facing before he showed up." Unbeknownst to them, there was a woman sitting alone listening to their conversation at a table nearby. The woman divided her attention between them and the book she was reading.

"More tea, ma'am?" The waitress asked.

"Yes please." She said.

"I like your bow. Makes you look really nice."

"Oh, um, thank you." Blake said.

The waitress set her cup back down on top of a napkin before walking away. Blake lifted her cup to take a sip and noticed that there was something written on the napkin. She lifted it up to see a scroll number. The waitress's scroll number.

"Huh." Was all Blake could say.

"I believe that is what they call a romantic invitation." Blake looked up to see a tall man wearing a helmet who had suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Do I know you?"

"No, but you know someone that I am looking for."

"Look, whatever this is, I want nothing to do with it." Blake made to leave.

"Sit down, Miss Belladonna. Otherwise everyone in this little place will die." Blake looked at him for a moment to see if he was bluffing. When it didn't appear so, she reluctantly sat back down and he sat in the chair opposite.

Bake sighed. "Who are you looking for?"

"Johnathon Blaze, the Ghost Rider. I found that you two had known each other for a few months before he disappeared."

"The key word being 'disappeared'. I have no idea where he is."

"I am not asking if you know of his whereabouts, that is not why I sought you out." He took out a green crystal and held it in front of her.

"What are you doing?"

"Confirming a suspicion of mine." After a moment it began to glow and Blake suddenly found herself back to the night Beacon fell.

* * *

She looked around and saw that she was back at the docks at Beacon, surrounded by her friends who were tired and hurt, and looked down to find a version of herself injured and holding an unconscious Yang's hand. She looked towards the school to see Johnny standing in front of two White Fang soldiers.

 _"_ _I said get on the ground!"_ One of them said. She remembered vividly what happened after that.

 _"_ _AAAGGGHHH!"_ Johnny shouted as he threw his old gem on the ground.

 _"_ _What are you doing? Do you think this is a joke?!"_

Blake then watched the flames swirl around Johnny, feeling just as shocked the first time she saw it happen. After the flames formed a figure and grabbed Johnny painfully, the memory stopped.

* * *

She was pulled out of the memory and came back to the café. She looked around to get her bearings while Centurious looked at the crystal.

"Wha-what was that?!" She said.

"A memory. The Crystal of Souls pulled your soul out of your body for a few moments and I looked into your memories to find what I needed."

"That being?"

"That crystal prisons can still hold him." He said smiling while holding the crystal in front of her.

"The gem…" She said remembering Johnny's orange gem, putting the pieces together as to why he needed her.

"Precisely. Now all that is left is to find that red-cloaked girl to locate where he is hiding."

 _"_ _No…"_ Blake thought.

"She and her friends helped the Rider destroy the church I had my servant use. And hopefully, with her memories, I can find Zarathos and put an end to our feud." He said with a grin. Blake wanted to stop him but she felt she couldn't risk the lives of everyone in the café.

"Thank you for helping me." He chuckled. "Do know that no harm will come to her or her compatriots. I only seek to destroy the monster. Goodbye, Miss Belladonna. We won't meet again." He then vanished right in front of her.

She looked around to see that no one had been paying attention as if they had no idea he was even there. She stood up, placed some Lien down on the table, and quickly left. Centurious was after Ruby and she was going to have to find some way to help them. If she was going to find Ruby, she was going to have to go to the one place where she might get some help finding her. Ruby's family home.

"Looks like I'm going back to Vale." Blake muttered to herself. Not knowing that a hooded Sun had gotten up from a secluded table and made to follow.

* * *

(Unknown forest, Anima)

While Ruby and the others were looking over their map, Qrow was watching them from a nearby cliff as Amber approached.

"You clear the path ahead?" Qrow asked.

"Yep, not a Grimm left standing." She looked to him to see that he was holding his head in his hand. "Tired?"

"Worried."

"About what?" She then noticed that he was staring at the team below. "You're still having nightmares."

"I have plenty of nightmares, you're gonna have to be more speci-"

"About the church." She cut in. "You're still worried about your niece stumbling across something else like it."

Qrow looked back at the group somberly. "How could I not be? A crazy man with demonic powers tried to eat her friend before trying to kill her and I couldn't even get into that church to save 'em." Qrow remembered trying to break through the windows and doors but couldn't, realizing that after Styge revealed his abilities, his power kept other people from getting in and interfering. "I failed to protect them."

"I don't know, I think you helped her along just fine." He looked to her confused. "You taught her how to defend herself and she used those skills to keep that creep back long enough for flame head to deal with him. I'd say you did alright." She said smiling, earning one right back.

"So, you two were there that night." They quickly stood up and turned around to see Centurious standing behind them. "I suppose I could use you as a substitute." He said, concluding that since Qrow and Amber were already in front of him, he wouldn't need Ruby and the others.

"Look, pal, I'm barely a good teacher let alone be a substitute." Qrow joked.

"I do not have time for games." He said reaching into his tunic. Amber, thinking that he was pulling out a weapon, fired her heat blasts at him. He held up his left hand, which was glowing yellow, and deflected the blast. Qrow took out his sword and just as he was about to strike, Centurious held the crystal in front of them and experienced another memory.

* * *

Qrow and Amber looked around to find that they were in a forest somewhere. They saw the past versions of themselves looking on at Ruby's and Johnny's groups from the treeline.

 _"_ _Besides, I'm only gonna be able to open two portals. One for them to get to Mistral and one for me to get back home and return to my work helping people, sorry guys."_ Seer said to Ruby's team.

"What is this? What's going on?" Amber said to Qrow. But before he could answer, they were pulled out of the memory.

They stumbled a little as they were put back in their bodies while Centurious put his crystal away.

"Yes, the last member of the Blood. She may know…" Centurious said to himself.

"What…the hell…was that?" Qrow asked.

"I grow tired of having to explain myself." He turned away from them. "Goodbye."

"Now wait just a damn minute!" Qrow said as he put his hand on the man's shoulder just as he teleported away, taking Qrow with him.

"Qrow!" Amber shouted, but he was gone and she had no idea where.

Ruby stopped and looked back at the cliff. "Wait, did you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" Jaune asked.

Ruby waited a moment but didn't hear anything else. "Nothing, probably just hearing things." They continued forward, completely unaware of what just transpired.

* * *

(The Nightclub, Vale)

"Alright, we've got a couple hours till we open. Any surprises I'll need to deal with before we do?" Seer asked her bouncer.

Wolff turned around to speak. "Nope, should be all quiet…at least until people start drinking."

"Good, don't need any more trouble coming through that door. Barely survived the last time." She walked over to the bar to see her bartender wiping her station down. "You all good here?"

Sara looked up at her boss. "Yep, all stocked and clean." She said smiling.

"Well, alright." Seer said smiling. "Looks like we're off to a great start." Just then, Centurious materialized in front of them as Qrow was flung across the floor.

"I just **had** to say something didn't I?" She turned around to see someone she never hoped to meet as he walked towards her.

"Do you know who I am?" He asked.

"Yes." She said, slightly trembling.

"Good, then I don't need to explain myself." He pulled out the crystal. "This will only take a minute."

Before Wolff could fire his taser gun and Sara landing a blow with her katanna that was behind the bar, the crystal pulled their souls into itself. Qrow watched as light flowed from their eyes and into the crystal that Centurious was gazing into. Just as Qrow got back up, Centurious returned their souls to their bodies and quickly vanished. Qrow ran up to them as they were readjusting.

"What happened? Who was that guy? And where the hell am I?" Qrow rambled.

"Shush, man. One thing at a time." Seer said rubbing her temples. "You came in with him?"

"Not by choice."

"Well, did he do that weird memory stuff on you too?"

"Yeah."

"Figured. You know Johnny Blaze?"

"The janitor who can burst into flames?"

"Ok, good. You don't need me to explain that part. You like you can fight so you're with me." She moved past him and began to try and open up a portal.

"I'm sorry, but I've got things to do. I got a niece that needs my help and-"

"And if you help me, that's where I'll drop you off." Her tattooed eye and outstretched hand glowed yellow as she struggled to open a portal, still weak from their encounter with Wallow.

"Come on…just hang in there, Blaze…" She said as she kept trying.

* * *

(Caretaker's shack)

Johnny and Carter, in full Phantom Rider garb, pulled up to the shack on their respective vehicles.

"I dunno, kid. I think ol' Banshee won that race." Carter said.

"First off, it was a tie. And second, my bike has way more horsepower." Johnny looked at Banshee. "No offense." Banshee neighed in response.

"I'm going to guess that means none taken."

Johnny got off of his bike and grabbed the bag that was tied to the back. It was open at the top and an old hand held mirror fell out of it. After picking it up, he saw that he had a full beard and grimaced.

"Maybe we should look for razors next time we go out scavenging."

"I don't think you'll want an ol' rusty blade for your face." Carter said after pulling off his mask. "I'll head into a town nearby and pick some up. Lord knows I ain't sharin' mine."

"I wasn't even going to ask. You know, for that salty comment, you're making dinner tonight."

"What the hell does salty mean in that sentence?" Just as he asked that, Centurious materialized in front of them. They both turned their attention to him.

"Can we help you?" Johnny asked.

"Zarathos, if you can hear me, I've come to kill you and your host. It is time to put an end to our feud." Centurious declared. Johnny and Carter looked at each other with a mixture of confusion and astonishment.

"Yeah, no thank you." They both pulled their guns and opened fire.

Centurious deflected the bullets and went to strike where they were standing. Johnny and Carter jumped out of the way and continued firing. Carter moved in closer but Centurious swiped the pistols from his hand, pulled out the crystal, and used it to absorb Carter's soul. Once it was finished, Carter collapsed.

"CARTER!" Johnny moved backward slightly into the shade of the cabin and channeled hellfire through his shotgun and fired, sending Centurious back a few feet. He ran over to Carter to check on him.

"Carter! Carter!" He could see that he was breathing but he wasn't responsive. Centurious got back up and held his glowing hand to Johnny, ready to fire.

"I have waited so long for this." But before he could take his vengeance, a portal opened up behind him and a yellow blast launched through and sent him flying through a wall at the front of the cabin. Seer and Qrow came through and over to them.

"Johnny!" Seer said, focusing on him until she looked down at Carter. "Is he dead?"

"No, he's alive. But I can't leave him here."

"Ok, I'll carry him through. Old guy, keep him busy." Seer said pointing at Centurious walking through the hole in the wall.

"I'm **not** old." Qrow said as he aimed his weapon at Centurious and began firing repeatedly.

Johnny used the distraction to get on his bike, grab Banshee's reigns, and ride through the portal with Banshee in tow. Once everyone was through the portal, Qrow ran and jumped through it just narrowly dodging a blast from Centurious. The blast went through the portal and struck the wall behind everyone. Seer quickly closed the portal and just as it was closing, Johnny and Centurious looked at each other, and Johnny knew that wouldn't be the last he would see of him. Johnny looked around and saw that he wasn't in The Nightclub but a building that was damaged during the Grimm attack. He turned to see Wolff and Sara as they ran over and hugged him.

"Hey! You made it…again." Wolff said.

"Thanks for your confidence." Johnny joked through tired breaths before he made his way over to Seer and Carter. "We need to take him to The Nightclub."

"We can't. You're buddy already confronted us there, he's probably there now looking for us. I had to make sure he couldn't find us."

"Ahem, I'm sorry to interrupt your game plan." Qrow said. "But, who was that? What's going on? And when can I go back to my niece and her friends?"

"Qrow Branwen?" Johnny asked.

"You know my name?"

"Bro, I ran into you all the time while I was working. You're hard to miss." Johnny said. "Especially when you reek like a bar."

"Ouch. But could somebody please answer my questions?" There was silence for a moment until Seer spoke up.

"Let's get him into a bed." She said gesturing to Carter. "And then I'll tell all of you everything you want to know."


	14. Hearts of Darkness: Teaming Up

**Comic book characters mentioned: K'nutu** and the **Cult of Zarathos**.

* * *

(Dismantled building, Vale)

Johnny and Seer set the unresponsive Carter down on an old bed that was left behind in the destroyed living block they were in. Johnny reached out to Carter and closed his eyes once he was all settled.

"I'll keep him here for a little bit until I know for sure we're safe, and then I'll sneak him into the hospital. I still got some friends there, keep it all hush-hush." Seer said.

"Good." He said, not looking away from Carter. They left the room to rejoin the others outside. As the others gathered around, Qrow leant up against the wall near the door to keep an eye on Carter whilst paying attention to what Seer had to say.

"The one responsible for all of this is Centurious, the Soulless Man."

"I've never heard of him." Johnny said.

"That's a first. You're usually the guy that has all the answers every time we have a 'mystical mumbo-jumbo' question." Wolff said.

"I never said I knew **everything**."

"Can I get back to explaining?" Seer asked slightly annoyed, causing silence among them. "Thank you. And this is something you should know, Johnny, because it has everything to do with your own 'inner demon'."

"Something tells me I'm not gonna like this story." Johnny said.

"Nope. Thousands of years ago there was a sorcerer, K'nutu, who summoned a powerful demon. He offered this demon a constant supply of souls as long as the creature helped him and his tribe in destroying their enemies. This tribe of followers was called the Cult of Zarathos."

Johnny looked up in realization. "Zarathos was the demon."

"K'nutu called him out of Hell during his corruption. And so, they prospered until the day the cult took a princess from one of the villages they destroyed, which brought on the anger of the surviving prince. He prayed to anyone who would listen to help him save the woman he loved and his prayers were answered by the devil himself."

"Mephisto." Sara said. "I remember that particular detail."

"Good, I don't need to explain that then. Anyway, Mephisto grew jealous of Zarathos over the souls he was collecting and decided he wanted him back. But, given that Mephisto isn't much of a risk taker when it comes to his own survival, he decided to manipulate the prince and make him risk his life instead. The deal was that, in exchange for his soul, the prince would be endowed with enough power to combat Zarathos and weaken him enough so that Mephisto could take what was left of him back to his domain. Unfortunately, the prince arrived in time to see Zarathos devour the princess's soul. He went into a rage and battled the demon with every ounce of his new power which would cost the lives of the entire cult. In the end, the prince was victorious and Mephisto took Zarathos back and would later bond him to mortals as punishment. The prince however was left alone to mourn for his lost love but found that he could no longer mourn, or love, or feel any other emotion save for anger. The loss of his soul rendered him an unfeeling and uncaring being that was doomed to walk the world of Remnant forever. This man would go on to gain more magical abilities, strike alliances with powerful demons, and become one of the most feared individuals among the mystical community."

"So, the prince became Centurious and this feud between him and Zarathos is over his dead girlfriend." Johnny summarized.

"That's pretty much the gist of it, yeah." Johnny lowered his head and tried to gather himself until Qrow spoke up.

"Well, I can't say that's the most messed up fairy tale I've ever heard but it's pretty damn close. Still doesn't explain the green rock."

"It's the Crystal of Souls. It's an ancient relic that allows the user to absorb peoples' souls into the item. The crystal then delves into the memories of the person trapped inside and, once it knows everything about them, it uses said memories to mentally torture those people for all eternity."

"Good god…" Sara said stunned.

"And that's what's happening to Carter?" Johnny asked worried, to which Seer nodded sadly. Johnny let out a pained heavy breath and looked away from everyone.

"How do I find him?" Johnny said with a hint of anger.

"Find him? Johnny, this guy has trained for thousands of years to battle the Ghost Rider, he's killed past hosts, **and** he's in possession of an artifact that can probably absorb Zarathos and definitely absorb you. You can't beat him."

Johnny turned to them with anger in his eyes. "I've faced tougher things than him."

"Maybe, but he is the only one who can hurt you and Zarathos personally. **That** can hurt worse than any punch, believe me."

"Regardless, I gotta find a way to get Carter's soul back before it's too late."

"Before it's too late for what?" Wolff asked.

"The body can only live without a soul for so long. At this point, Carter may only have three days left before his body…fails." Seer said.

"Hold on, I'm confused. You said Centurious didn't have a soul and his body lived for thousands of years. What makes Carter any different?"

"That's our fault, we didn't really explain." Johnny began. "A soul isn't some ghost that lives inside of you. It's not like once you sell it its gone and you continue on with your life like normal. Your soul **is** you, your waking consciousness, the electrical signals in your brain that compile who you are and then float off into an astral form once you die. Selling your soul doesn't mean you get rid of it right then and there, it means that once you die, whoever you made the deal with comes for you once your time is up."

"If Centurious can die it means he ends up in Hell with Mephisto once he does. The reason he's called the 'Soulless Man' is because he acts like a soulless unfeeling machine due to whatever effect his powers have on his mind. Soulless for Centurious is a metaphorical thing." Seer said. "Carter on the other hand had his soul ripped out of his body, he is the definition of a soulless man right now."

"Jeez, and I thought knew about all the crazy magical crap that went on in the world." Qrow said before drinking from his flask. "While I am tempted to learn more about this stuff, I have a family matter to get back to. So, if you could do that 'wormhole-thingy that gets me from here to Anima in two seconds flat' that would be swell."

"Hold that thought." Johnny said to Seer before she could say something. "Can I talk to you?" He said to Qrow, both turning away from the group.

"Look, we don't know each other very well, and I don't expect you to trust me after Beacon and the church. But, I could really use your help."

"My help?"

"If what Seer said is true, then I am really outmatched against this guy. I'd ask for her help but Centurious is more than likely to come after Sara, Wolff, and Carter to get to me once he knows she's not there to protect them. And, even though they've proven they can handle themselves, I don't think they'd be much of a match for an ancient, seven foot tall, grudge carrying, sorcerer with a rock that steals peoples' souls, especially with one of them being completely catatonic. I need her with them to teleport out of trouble at a moment's notice. Which would leave me all alone with tall, dark, and scary. So, could you please help me fight this guy before he hurts anyone else? If it makes you feel any better I'm more than certain that you're chances of surviving are higher than mine since he only wants to kill me."

Qrow grumbled as he rubbed his forehead. "I suppose my current partner can look after the kids while I'm dealing with your mess." He said, giving in to Johnny's plea.

"Thank you."

"Thank me after we get rid of this guy."

"Hope that 'we' could be extended for a third member of this little team up." Seer said. "When I grabbed Carter my clairvoyance kicked in."

"Clari-what?" Qrow asked.

"I'll explain later." Johnny answered.

"I saw that before he ran into you two he started his search with someone that you both know." Johnny and Qrow looked at each other puzzled before they both looked back at Seer.

"Who?" They both asked in unison.

* * *

(Island of Patch, Xiao Long-Rose family home)

Blake just stood in front of the door, unable to bring herself to knock. The fear of confronting one of the people she abandoned stopped her from proceeding. After a moment she sighed and raised her arm to knock.

"Hi there." Blake turned quickly reaching for her weapon, ready to confront whoever was behind her.

"Woah!" Seer said. "Hey, I'm friendly!"

"Uh-I'm sorry." Blake said, letting go of her blade's handle. "You, uh, here to see the Xiao Longs?"

"No, actually, I'm here for you. You and me have a shared acquaintanceship with Johnny Blaze."

"Johnny?" Blake asked quickly. "Is he ok? Does this have to do with the guy in the helmet?"

"Yeah, and we kinda need your help in beating him." Seer opened a portal in front of them showing Johnny waving to them while standing next to a cross armed Qrow.

Seer walked through and turned back to Blake expectantly and after a moment's hesitation she walked through before the portal closed. After it did, Yang opened the front door.

"Hello? Is someone there?" She looked around to see that there was no one. "Could've sworn I heard voices." She said as she closed the door. In a nearby tree, Sun was staring at the spot Blake was standing in before she disappeared.

"Excuse me." Sun yelped at the sudden appearance of Seer sitting next to him. "Two in a row, wonder if that's a new record for me." She said to herself. "Go back to that motel you two were at before she came here. I'll bring her back there safe and sound once this is over and you can go back to doing the whole 'protect from the shadows' thing you've been doing."

"Wait-" He said.

"Gotta go." Seer said before moving off the branch and down into a portal back to Vale.

"What just happened?" Sun asked himself.

* * *

(Dismantled building, Vale)

Blake looked around as she walked up to Johnny and Qrow. "This place could us a remodel." She said.

"Yeah, some fresh paint, new carpets, a pool table, and this place would look better than before." Qrow said.

"You're Yang and Ruby's uncle."

"Nice to see you still remember me." He said with a smile.

"And you…" Blake gave Johnny a once-over. "Look like you've seen better days."

"Gee, thanks for the compliment." He said deadpanned. "But, it really is great to see you. Just wish it was under better circumstances."

"I was at Yang and Ruby's house to find out where Ruby had gone. The helmet guy said he was looking for her."

"He made it to where she was but settled on uncle-holic here instead." Johnny said pointing his thumb at Qrow.

"Uncle-holic?" Qrow asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Are her and the others ok?"

"Glad to see she's so concerned about my well-being." Qrow said to himself.

"They're fine, he didn't go near them."

Blake breathed a sigh of relief. "Good." She looked up at the both of them. "You're friend said that you needed help?"

"As much as we can get." Qrow said. They all walked together towards the stairs leading to the streets outside as Johnny spoke.

"Let's bring you up to speed…"


	15. Hearts of Darkness: Flames in the Street

**Comic book characters introduced: Mr. Stern** and **the Firm**

* * *

(Diner in Vale)

Johnny, Blake, and Qrow all decided that it would be better to discuss their game plan over lunch. Johnny filled Blake in on the history of Centurious and what happened to him and Qrow that morning.

"So, it's all over this crazy guy's dead girlfriend?" Blake asked.

"Funny enough, I said something similar." Johnny said as he ate his toast.

"Doesn't matter what this whole thing's about." Qrow said before looking at Johnny. "All that matters is that this guy wants to kill you and will probably do the same to anyone else standing in the way of that."

"That's why we're gonna discuss a plan to get rid of him. Maybe-" Johnny stopped when he saw the waitress walk up to their table with a coffee pot.

"Anyone need a refill?" She asked with a smile. She received a no from Johnny and Blake.

"I'll take one." Qrow said.

"There you go." She said after pouring him a new cup. "I'll let you get back to it." She then walked away.

Qrow took out his flask, unscrewed the top, and poured whatever was in it into his mug. Just before he took a sip he looked up and saw Johnny and Blake's perplexed expressions.

"What?"

"It's 11:30 in the morning." Johnny said.

He looked down at his cup and then back up to them. "Look, man, you've got bikes, she's got books, I've got booze. The 'sacred three B's'. We've all got our comforts and I don't judge either of you for yours." He then took a sip from his mug.

"Why do I not believe that last part?" Johnny said quietly to himself.

"Right, so, you were saying about a plan?" Blake asked Johnny.

"Yeah, so I was thinking if this guy's taking souls for his own it might attract the attention of the guy he made the deal with. The same guy who asked him to stop another demon from taking souls."

"That could probably work." Qrow said.

"If that's the case, then why hasn't…um…" Blake struggled to remember.

"Mephisto." Johnny said.

"Thanks. Then why hasn't Mephisto confronted him before?"

Johnny then realized the flaw in that plan. "Because he isn't taking an overabundance of souls like Zarathos did, you're right, that plan won't work." He lowered his head into his hands.

"Got any other magic friends that could help us with this plan since you're out of ideas?" Qrow asked in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Nope. Apart from Seer, who doesn't know anything else, all the mystical acquaintances I had are depowered, missing, or dead." Johnny said as he massaged his temples.

"Geez, if they were just your acquaintances I'd hate to see the state of your friends."

Johnny looked up angrily at Qrow. "My friends here are hiding out in a hospital waiting for some crazy revenge seeker to hunt them down to get to me and my other friends are walking across Anima, one of them being the one you almost forced into becoming a weapon for your little society."

"Wait, what?" Blake asked confused.

"We didn't force her. We gave her a choice and she made it." He said defensively.

Johnny laughed. "A choice? I'm sorry but that is hilarious because 'either accept this power and lose everything that makes you who you are or everyone dies' doesn't sound like a choice, it sounds like an ultimatum. And if you knew Pyrrha at all you'd know that she would choose to sacrifice herself for the greater good if that is the choice she was faced with. Or maybe you did know and you were counting on that. An ultimatum disguised as choice so someone else can take the hit in your war."

"I can see there's some hostility-" Blake said before being interrupted by Qrow.

"That is **not** what happened!"

"And I'm supposed to believe you because?"

" **Because** we need to put whatever this is aside for now so that we can focus on the task at hand." Blake said. Johnny and Qrow looked down at their food avoiding eye contact which annoyed Blake.

"I'm going to order something from the counter. If **this** -" She waved her fingers between the two of them. "-isn't resolved by the time I get back, so help me…" She finished before leaving.

"Beacon girls are scary, man." Johnny said.

"Tell me about it." They both sat in quick silence before Qrow spoke up again. "How did you know?"

"What?"

"Earlier you mentioned me not trusting you over Beacon…and the church." Johnny looked down again. "How did you know I was there?"

"The Rider sensed you outside trying to break in while he battled Styge."

"None of the windows or doors would break."

"That's magic for you, but you know all about magic don't you?" Johnny said before drinking from his mug. "Look, I don't like you because of the mess with Pyrrha and you don't trust me because I have an uncontrollable demon living within me. But…I'm willing to put that aside for now until Centurious is gone, sound good?" Johnny asked before extending his hand.

"Yeah." Qrow extended his and they both shook hands. "I guess I can do that too. Although, I should warn you, this may weaken my ego a little bit." He then laughed. Johnny chuckled before going over what Qrow said again.

"Weaken…" Johnny said to himself.

"You two get over your problems with each other?" Blake asked when she got back.

"Better than that, I mean we kinda did, but I got an idea."

"We're listening." Qrow said before taking a sip from his mug.

* * *

(The Nightclub)

Centurious watched as the men in suits searched the area. Pulling out drawers and sifting through papers only to find nothing. One of the men walked up to Centurious to update him.

"We've yet to find anything pertaining to their whereabouts, sir." The man said.

"That is quite alright, Mr. Stern. I think a more direct approach will be required."

"But sir, that would draw attention from the public. Are you sure that is the best course of action?"

"The world is already aware of the mystical, Mr. Stern. It is a bit too late to worry about revealing the supernatural to the masses. But I do appreciate your concern for me and the continued ambiguity of the Firm. It further proves that I was not mistaken in putting you in charge." He made to walk away before stopping and looking back at his subordinate. "Make no mistake, though. **Never** question my orders again otherwise someone else will fill your position." The threat was less intended to sound as if he would merely fire him, but that Centurious would make sure that no one would ever find him.

"Yes, sir." Was all he could say before Centurious walked out.

"Excuse me, sir." Another man asked Stern. "We may have found something." He said before handing Stern a card. It was a card from the local hospital with the contact information for one of its doctors. He flipped it over and written in pen read ' _If you need anything, just ask_ '.

"Yes, I think you have." Stern then smiled.

* * *

(Dismantled building, a few hours later)

Blake, Johnny, and Qrow were finishing loading their weapons and preparing for their plan.

"Ok, I've got the ice rounds. I'll focus on freezing him in place." Blake said.

"And I've got the explosive rounds. He'll be flying through the air if he gets hit with one of these." Qrow said confidently.

"Good. These may not kill him, but they'll slow him down…I hope."

"That inspires confidence." Blake said.

"Let's just hope it's enough to get 'sparky' close to get rid of Cent…um…Cen-you know who I'm talking about, I can't keep track of these names." Qrow said in frustration.

"Maybe if you weren't constantly drunk and blacking out…" Johnny said.

"Don't disrespect the flask."

"Guys!" Their attention turned to Blake. "I'm not going to reel you in every time you're going to argue, so learn to stop by yourselves. Now, how are we going to find Centurious? Are we going to look for him or coax him out?"

"Coaxing sounds easier with the amount of time I've got left. The sun will be setting soon and this empty street block is just the perfect place for a throw down."

"Are you sure that's wise? I've heard the rumors from Windpath…" Blake said.

"That's where you come in. If I start to get out of hand then use this." Johnny presented them with a piece of paper which Blake grabbed.

"What is this?"

"A suppression spell. It's the only one I know of that still works so that's the only reliable defense you've got."

"That's just great." Qrow said. "Right, so how are we gonna lure the big guy out into open?"

Their train of thought was interrupted by an explosion from outside. They went to the window to see smoke and fire coming from a few blocks away.

"Maybe he'll try to lure us out instead." Blake said.

Johnny went back to the table to pick up his shotgun and placed it in the holster on his back. "New plan: We find Centurious, bring him here, and then enact the original plan, sound good?" They both nodded.

"This better work." Johnny hoped.

* * *

(A few blocks away, a few minutes later)

Centurious, whilst standing on a floating sigil, fired energy blasts at the nearby cars while the people nearby fled for their lives. His attention was grabbed by the sound of a loud engine approaching behind him. He turned to see that it was exactly who he was hoping for. Johnny pulled up and stopped a few feet away from Centurious.

"Well, you have my attention."

"Good to see that I do. I trust that the clairvoyant has told you who I am."

"Centurious, the Soulless Man."

He chuckled. "Titles, sometimes they sound crueler than they actually are."

"But in your case, it seems to be the perfect one." He said gesturing to the flames.

"Well, I suppose some fit more than others."

"You waited till sunset, doesn't take a genius to figure out that you want to fight the Rider instead of killing me outright." Johnny said stalling for time as Blake got into position.

"Well, aren't you clever?" He smiled.

"The part that's confusing me is you didn't bother with that when we met this morning. You tried to kill me during the day but now you've change your mind, why?" Blake was lining up the shot on the rooftop above.

"Because I realized that my fight is not with you, Blaze. It is with **him**. Granted, you will still die, but I'd rather fight the demon that took everything from me than a feeble, washed up child of the circus…" Blake was about to pull the trigger. "And his interfering accomplices." He raised his hand to where Blake was and fired a blast where she was standing, sending her falling down to the street with the rubble.

"I thought I said we would never see each other again, Miss Belladonna. Unluckily for you-" He raised his hand at her. "-I was wrong."

Qrow fired a round from where he was on the opposite rooftop only for Centurious to raise his left hand and deflect it with a sigil. He fired a blast from his right hand at Qrow, but Qrow managed to jump to the street below before the projectile destroyed the area where he was standing. Johnny fired at Centurious's helmet to distract him from Blake getting up to take her shot. Centurious raised his hand to fire at Johnny, but the distraction proved successful as Blake fired, encasing him in ice, and sending him falling to ground without the magical platform to keep him in the air. Johnny and Qrow quickly wrapped a chain around the ice block as Blake ran back to the street they came from to get into position. Once they were done, Johnny drove the massive block back toward the empty street. When they got there Centurious broke out of the ice sending Johnny flying from the bike and hitting the road. As Johnny writhed in pain from the bruising and the cuts, he saw the sunlight disappear behind the buildings and felt a fire stirring within. After Centurious stood up, wiping away the ice from his shoulder, he saw the familiar flames and smiled.

"Hello again, Zarathos. It is finally time that you died."

"Like your wife?" The Rider chuckled.

That sent Centurious into a rage and as he charged he was stopped by more ice. He looked up to find Blake on another rooftop pointing her weapon at him. When he focused his attention back on the Rider his sight was greeted with a fist sending him flying down the street. The Rider was about to land another punch on the downed sorcerer until his fist was grabbed and was punched in the abdomen. He was then met with an uppercut that flipped him into the air and through the front wall of the building Blake was on the roof of. Centurious started to walk toward the building until he was thrown back into the asphalt by the impact of one of Qrow's rounds. Qrow kept firing trying to keep Centurious from getting back up, but he managed to fire a blast near Qrow's feet sending him flying onto his back. When he tried to get back up he was sent back down by the impact of Centurious's foot to his face, knocking him out. Blake finished reloading and fired only for Centurious to block them with a sigil. He saw the Rider leaning up against the side of the hole holding his head. Centurious quickly materialized to the Rider's bike and threw it in his direction, fired a blast at its tank, and it exploded a few inches in front of him. The explosion went through the already weakened building and sent it crumbling down with Blake barely managing to jump away in time. Centurious approached the downed Blake, grabbed Qrow's weapon, and plunged the blade into her chest.

And then she disappeared as if she was never there. Before he realized what was going on he was stabbed in the back of his shoulder by Blake, making him drop Qrow's blade.

"A decoy, impressive." He said before punching her away and into the unconscious Qrow. "But it will not save you." He then pulled Gambol Shroud out of his should and broke the blade in half before tossing it away.

"You fought bravely, young one. Your death shall be quick." He raised his hand to fire but before he could, a chain then whipped tightly around his neck.

He saw the Rider panting and holding his ribs but very much angry. Centurious yanked on the chain, pulling the Rider to him, and then proceeded to beat down on him. The Rider couldn't move after being hit blow after blow and Centurious knelt down in front of his face.

"This is for all the lives you have ruined, monster." And just as he was about to deal the final blow, he was then shot in the hand. The bullet did not go through but it was irritating enough for Centurious to turn his attention away from the focus of his revenge.

"Police! Step away from him and put your hands on your head!" Agent Uno shouted. Centurious became visibly irritated. "Don't make me ask you again!" Her gun still aimed at him.

Centurious could hear the sirens approaching from behind her and decided to end the Rider quickly before he had to deal with any more 'pests', only for him to be met with the Rider firing his hellfire shotgun into his chest, sending him flying through a nearby wall. Before Uno could fire at him, Ghost Rider dropped his hand to the ground and raised a wall of fire in front of her making her stumble back. The Rider was weak and could barely move. Blake helped him up and even though the Rider would rather kill her than accept help, he was too weak to even try. Qrow managed to regain consciousness, pick up his weapon, and began stumbling away with the rest of them. Blake had managed to pick up the broken Gambol Shroud before grabbing the Rider again and guide him away from the scene.

Detective Badilino got out of his car when he arrived and ran to the wall of flame. Through the flames he saw the Ghost Rider and felt all the rage he had for him rise up inside. The Rider, sensing eyes on him, turned into Badilino's direction and saw through the fire his glowing red eyes looking back at him. Blake nudged him to keep moving and he relented. The officers that circled around couldn't find them, almost as if they had simply vanished into thin air. Uno turned to Badilino.

"This close, we were **this** close!" He said in frustration.

"I know, I know. We'll get him, but right now I need you to pull yourself together. We know he's in the city so he can't have gone far." Uno walked into the direction of the other officers to give them their orders. Badilino stared at the flames and only thought of the vengeance he would have on the Rider. The very thought made his eyes glow a burning red. He then looked over to the area where Centurious was knocked into to find that there was nothing there except rubble.

* * *

As they were stumbling through the alleyways the Rider collapsed onto the ground and the flames began to disappear. Johnny reverted back to his normal state, but only more bloodied and bruised.

"Johnny! Johnny, are you ok?" Blake asked. Johnny couldn't say anything through the pain.

"I think his answer would be the same as mine." Groaned Qrow.

"This day just keeps getting worse, doesn't it?" Blake said.

"Yeah, and it ain't even over yet." Qrow said.

"Where do we go now?" Blake then heard a muffled whisper coming from Johnny. "What?"

"Hospital…Seer…" Johnny said meekly.

Blake nodded and put Johnny's left arm over her right shoulder. "Qrow, help me with him." He stumbled over and put Johnny's right arm over his left shoulder and started making their way toward the hospital.

* * *

(Hospital)

"Any changes?" Seer asked.

"No, but he is stable at least. We'll just have to wait and see." The doctor said.

"Thank you again, Sam, for helping me and for keeping this off the books."

"Hey, think nothing of it. The way I see it, this is me repaying you for helping my family after the whole invasion of monsters fiasco." He smiled. "I'm going to have to get back to my other patients. I'll check up on him in a little while." He said before walking away.

Seer looked at the soulless body of Carter and thought of all the trouble she had gotten into lately which made her chuckle.

"What's funny?" Wolff asked.

"Nothing, just thinking that I should have kicked you two and Johnny out when you asked for my help." She chuckled again.

Wolff smiled and looked over at Sara just waking up. Thinking they could all use something to keep them alert, he went into the hall to find a coffee machine. Just as he was about to put the lien in the machine, he saw two men in black suits holding up a scroll in front of one of the nurses. On the scroll was a picture of Seer and as soon as Wolff saw that, the nurse pointed in his direction and the men looked toward him.

"This is bad…"


	16. Hearts of Darkness: Wrath of Vengeance

Something that was never pointed out was that there was an easter egg back in chapter 3. Johnny's license plate **GST-572** : **GST** meaning Ghost, **5** meaning Marvel Spotlight #5 where he was first introduced, and **72** meaning 1972, the year that comic came out. A slight oversight that we hope can be easily forgiven. Anyway, on with the story.

 **Comic book characters mentioned: Ghost Rider (Danny** **Ketch)** , **Ghost Rider (Alejandra** **Jones)** , **Noble Kale** , and **Diabolique**.

* * *

(Hospital)

Wolff carried the comatose Carter over his shoulder while Sara and Seer followed close behind as they moved through the corridors of the hospital. Wolff ran when the two men saw him and shot the nurse, who helped them identify Seer, tried to stop them. The two men made chase and fired their pistols at them. Seer blindly fired energy blasts at them as they all ran but the agents dodged each projectile.

"Seer!" She turned her attention down the hallway to see Sam. His sudden appearance startled one of the agents who responded by shooting him.

"NO!" She shouted as he fell to the ground. She angrily shot back in their direction but none of the blasts hitting their mark as they took cover. She looked at the others and knew she couldn't stay there, so she reluctantly left.

They turned down another hallway and were running past a closet until the door opened and an arm grabbed Sara's and pulled her in. The others ran to check and were also pulled in and the door closed behind them moments before the two agents showed up and ran past it. They turned expecting to see more opposition but were greeted with the defeated faces of Blake, Qrow, and a battered Johnny.

"You guys look like you went through the wringer." Wolff said panting, laying Carter down gently on the floor.

"If the wringer had deadly spells and a kick with the force of a hurricane behind it, then yeah we went through one hell of a wringer." Qrow said while looking through the shelves of medical supplies.

Seer went over to check on Johnny. She touched his shoulder and when she looked at her hand she saw that her palm was covered in blood.

"Centurious beat him pretty badly. We're doing what we can for him." Blake said as she wrapped a bandage around Johnny's bleeding head.

"As cautious as he is, he's always been overconfident." Seer said.

"Ok, I've got some painkillers." Qrow handed them to Blake who then noticed something in his left hand.

"What's that?"

"This thing?" Qrow held a giant syringe in front of her.

"Yeah, that thing."

"It's uh-" He read the label. "-Epinephrine. A shot of adrenaline."

"Why?"

"So it can help people who go into cardiac arrest or-"

No, I get that, I meant why do we need it?"

"In case we need him to get back into action."

"He's not in any state for action. Give me that!" Blake grabbed the syringe. "Check and see if the coast is clear."

"On it, boss." He went over to peek outside the door.

"Everyone doing alright?" Blake asked.

"Yeah, apart from being run around this hospital like a mouse from a cat, I think we're all ok. Ain't that right Carter?" Sara asked, getting no response from the comatose man. "See, he agrees."

"Coast is clear for now. We should get moving." Qrow said.

"Help me with him." Blake asked Seer who then helped her carry Johnny.

They all walked out of the closet and hurried down the hallways trying to find a way out. As they were about to turn a corner one of the agents turned and hit Qrow in the face with the end of his pistol knocking him back. He aimed for his head but before he could pull the trigger, Sara quickly sliced his right hand off with her sword. She stood there shocked at the screaming man until Qrow took her arm and led her forward with the others. They saw the exit and were just about to make it until the other agent stood in front of it and fired at them, forcing them to take cover.

"Targets reacquired, converge on back entrance." The agent said into his earpiece before firing on them again.

Qrow looked to Blake. "He called for backup. Now's as good a time as any!"

Blake looked at the group more battered and tired than anything. She huffed out of frustration and pulled out the syringe. She pulled up Johnny's shirt and jacket and plunged the needle into his chest and injected him with the adrenaline. After a moment his eyes shot open and quickly sat up.

"AAAAHHHH!" He screamed as fire shot out of his mouth and the flames burned away his skin and bandages.

The Rider got up, saw the agent, and ran towards him yelling. The metal doors flew off as the Rider tackled the agent through them. The Rider began furiously punching him until he was dust on the ground. He roared into the sky until a few bullets hit him in the arm, grabbing his attention. He turned to a group of agents were standing a few feet nearby, whipped out his chain, and roared while charging at them. While he was busy tearing up the agents like paper mache the others made it to a truck in the parking lot. They all got in as Qrow struggled to hotwire the truck.

"Come on, it's the yellow wire with the blue-" He stopped when a frustrated Seer held up her glowing hand to the ignition and made it start. "Thanks."

Police cars finally made it to the hospital which was the groups' signal to go. They were about to leave until an explosion grabbed their attention. A man on a bike drove through the flames stopping a few feet from the Rider. The Rider threw the agent in his hands through a car that exploded on impact. Officers tried to run to where they were but a wall of flames blocked them from getting through and blocked their field of vision. As the officers ran away trying to find another way through, the mysterious man got off his bike and stood a good distance away.

"Detective Michael Badilino, Vale Police Department!" The energetic Rider struggled to stand still with his newfound adrenaline boost. "Didn't think that name would mean anything to you. How about Detective Rebecca Taylor?" The Rider perked up, recognizing the name.

"That was my partner, monster, and you took her away from me! Now guess what? I know your name." Badilino held up the burnt license plate from Johnny's now destroyed bike. "Johnny Blaze." His eyes began to glow red before he threw the plate away. His bike then erupted in red hellfire.

"Once you know who to look for facial recognition comes in real handy, in case you were wondering how I found you. Now I think it's time that **you** of all people faced vengeance…" Badilino's eyes burnt away as red flames erupted from beneath his skin.

Bony spikes grew along the top of his skull like a fin and two large tusks formed at the edge of his upper jaw. Three large sets of rib bones grew out from under his jacket and curved inward towards his chest. Two red orbs for eyes formed within his eye sockets and stared angrily back at the Ghost Rider.

"Luckily, Vengeance is my name." He reached for something from the back of his bike. He pulled out a link of barb wire covered in red hellfire.

The Rider then roared in adrenaline fueled defiance and sprinted towards him. Vengeance whipped his link towards the Rider only for him to deflect it with his chain. The Rider then tried to tackle Vengeance but couldn't move him. Vengeance brought his fists down onto the Rider's back, knocking him to the ground. Vengeance went to stomp on him but the Rider rolled over making Vengeance leave a small crater where his foot landed. The Rider stood up and began to rapidly punch him in the chest making Vengeance stumble back a bit while the group watched the fight from the truck.

"Ah, damn it!" Qrow said as he grabbed his weapon and made his way out of the truck.

"What're you doing?" Seer asked before looking back at the fight. "Actually, don't answer that. I'm getting the idea." She made her way to the vacant driver's seat.

"Get them somewhere safe…and somewhere with booze." He said as he extended the blade.

"We'll be at the Rip Van Twinkle." She took the truck out of park. "Anybody ever tell you that you got a drinking problem?" She joked as she drove away from the chaos.

Qrow smiled. "All the time." He then ran toward the fight.

"Alright, we check in at the hotel and wait for them there. Sound good?" Seer asked.

"No complaints from us." Wolff said.

"How about you, Blake?" Seer asked. She was answered with the sound of the passenger side door closing. When she looked she saw that Blake had left.

"I think she's ok with it." Seer said sarcastically and kept driving.

Vengeance kept punching the erratic Ghost Rider before wrapping him up in barb wire. He fell to the ground in pain as the wire dug into his body while Vengeance stood triumphantly over him. He intensified the heat and made the Rider yell in pain and relished in his misery until Qrow shot him with an explosive round sending him into a nearby car. Qrow ran to the Rider and cut the burning wire with his sword.

"You ok?" Qrow asked as the Rider recuperated, only to be met with a hand at his throat. "Seriously?!" Qrow struggled to say. "I'm trying to help! You don't kill people who try to help!" He was only answered with a hateful stare until they both heard Vengeance get out of the car he was trapped in.

The Rider let Qrow go in favor of killing Vengeance. As Qrow coughed the Rider charged at Vengeance at full speed but began to stumble halfway as the adrenaline began to wear off. Vengeance then grabbed him by the arms and lifted him off the ground. Qrow aimed the barrel of his weapon at Vengeance and pulled the trigger only to be met with a click, signifying that he had used up all of his ammo. Vengeance then bit down on the Rider's right shoulder sending his tusks into it. The Rider roared in pain and his flames began to dim, too tired to keep fighting. Vengeance then yelped in pain as he felt something extremely cold hit his left leg. He dropped the Rider and looked down to see that his leg was encased in ice. He was shot again in the chest with more ice forming and restricting some of his movement. He looked up to see Blake aiming the damaged Gambol Shroud at him.

"Common thing people know about fire, it doesn't do so well in the cold!" She said before firing another shot at his head, freezing it. Qrow and Blake ran the Rider's unconscious body into the back of a nearby car that Blake had 'borrowed'.

Qrow noticed the working engine as he got into the driver's seat. "Didn't know you could hotwire a car, kid."

"I didn't, the keys were left in the ignition." Qrow looked to see that she was right and began to drive away.

"Remind me not to get whichever doctor this car belongs to in the future. You know, in case I need surgery and they leave something behind like their keys." He joked as he drove the car through the dimming flames that Vengeance could no longer keep lit as he struggled with the ice.

Vengeance then forced flames through his head which melted the ice and then broke apart the ice on his chest and leg with his hand. He looked to see that the Rider and his friends had gone and angrily brought down his onto the hood of the car he was thrown into. He then transformed back to his human form, brushed off any dirt he had on him, and went inside the hospital for any lead to where the Rider might have gone.

* * *

(The Rip Van Twinkle Hotel, two hours later)

The group recuperated in their hotel room. Carter was placed on one of the two beds in the room with Seer sat at the end of it, Blake and Wolff sat in the two chairs near the window, Qrow stood against the wall with his arms crossed, while Sara and Johnny were sat on the other bed as she focused on bandaging him up. She was bandaging up his right shoulder and that caused him to grunt in discomfort.

"Next time, don't get chowed down on by demonic skeletal-giants and you won't have to deal with this." She said with a smirk.

"Wasn't up to me but I'll be sure not to in the day time."

"Good. That was quite the surprise though, seeing another…well, you. I didn't think there were other Ghost Riders."

"There aren't. Well, no, there was one but that wasn't him."

"Context please." She said as she was finishing up with the bandage.

"The only other Spirit of Vengeance, like Zarathos, that exists is Noble Kale. He doesn't show up throughout history as often as Zarathos does and he's definitely **way** less crazy than Zarathos. He was bonded to my friend Danny until a year ago when we all decided that if I was going to get rid of Zarathos then we should all be done with our time as Ghost Riders."

"When you say 'all' it sounds like it was more than two of you." Blake said.

"I was getting to that before you interrupted. Ow!" Johnny yelped as Sara applied pressure on his wound when she finished applying the bandage.

"All done and be nicer to your friends." She smiled smugly.

"Anyway, there were three of us. There was me who was bonded to Zarathos, Alejandra Jones who 'borrowed' a fraction of Zarathos's power but later decided to work with us, and Danny who was bonded to Noble Kale. We were the Ghost Riders until I decided I didn't want to keep being one anymore. In order for me to be rid of Zarathos completely I needed his powers to be whole for the exorcism to work which meant Alejandra couldn't be a Rider anymore. I was actually surprised that she gave back her power without hesitation since she trained her whole life to be the next Ghost Rider and when I asked her about it she said that 'she would gladly give it all up for a friend'." Johnny chuckled. "She was definitely not that sentimental when me and Danny first met her but I guess having actual friends made quite the difference. Danny would've been the only one left but he was tired too. So he came with me to get Kale exorcised out of him but only after he got permission from Kale himself. Yeah, I got the crazy one who wouldn't listen and he got the one who, while still unhinged, actually listened to him."

"Sounds terrible." Qrow said sarcastically.

"So, the one we saw, he's Noble Kale?" Sara asked.

"No, didn't feel like him. And it didn't feel like two beings in one it felt like…like it was the same person despite the transformation."

"You're saying it was the same guy but instead of being bonded to a demonic spirit he had actual powers?" Blake asked.

"Yeah, I guess."

"And that doesn't make him a Ghost Rider?" Wolff asked.

"Nope." Seer answered. "In order to be a Ghost Rider you have to be bonded with a Spirit of Vengeance and if what Johnny says is true and that guy wasn't bonded to one, then he ain't a Rider."

"Then what does that make him exactly?" Qrow asked.

"He said it himself, Vengeance." Johnny said.

"Is everyone we're gonna come across gonna have a nickname?" Wolff asked. "Cause, everyone we've come across so far has had a nickname. Hag, Wallow, Blackheart, and now this Vengeance guy. And besides, what does he even want?" Sara noticed Johnny look down somberly, realizing he already knew the answer.

"Johnny?" Sara asked making Johnny look at her. "Who was that Rebecca woman he was talking about?"

Johnny sighed. "Her name was Detective Rebecca Taylor of the Vale Police Department. She was one of the officers assigned to the case to track down the murderer responsible for gang killings in Vacuo revolving around extreme violence and fire."

"I'm assuming the Ghost Rider." Blake said.

"They didn't know what the killer was but they were keen to find out. She was the first one to figure it out and she found me fighting against a demon. Surprisingly, she shook herself out of shock and helped me defeat it. This was at a time Zarathos was a lot more tame so he acknowledged her contribution and let her live. The next time I saw her was about a month later and she helped me again with a half-demon. She would've brought me into custody sooner but she said that there were a lot more dangerous things than me."

"Until Zarathos became an uncontrollable psychopath later on." Wolff said.

"Yeah. We came across a very powerful entity called Diabolique. We fought against her as best we could but it wasn't enough. During the fight she had gotten a piece of Rebecca's hair and attached it to a cloth doll. She stabbed it in the chest with a needle and Rebecca collapsed. I went to check on her but she was…" Johnny struggled to finish. "She was already dead. And Diabolique laughed." He clenched his fists. "I lost control and Zarathos sent her to Hell. No remorse, no compassion, just rage. That was when I first started to lose control of Zarathos. I went to check on her again, I heard something, and I looked up and saw him. I can remember him now as clear as day, Badilino, the fiancé she talked about, obviously there to have her back. He showed up after Diabolique was gone and thought I killed her. He stood there horrified and once the horror was gone anger took its place. He shot at me, tried to kill me, but I got out of there and I guess that, since the last time I saw him, he did something to get an advantage over me to avenge the love he lost."

"Damn." Qrow said. "It seems like everyone hates you over their dead girlfriends nowadays."

"Seriously?" Johnny said with an annoyed tone.

"So, apart from an ancient vengeful warlock we also have to deal with a vengeful Ghost Rider knock off?" Wolff asked.

Johnny sighed. "Yeah."

"Oh, that's just terrific. You know what, I can't deal with this right now, I'm going to bed." Wolff then laid down on the blankets on the floor to catch some sleep.

"Well, he's done for the night." Johnny said. He looked at Sara who was looking at him with a curious look.

"Is there something on my face?"

"Apart from the bruises and the wounds, no. All that talk about Zarathos, monks, and Spirits of Vengeance, it got me thinking. How come you know so much about magic and demons and stuff? Did Zarathos tell you about it?"

"Yeah, I wondered that myself." Wolff chimed in. "You always did make yourself out to be the encyclopedia of all things magic whenever we had a question about it."

"One: that's an exaggeration." He pointed at Wolff before turning to Sara. "And two: Zarathos never speaks to me. I learned about the Riders and magic and stuff from that one." He pointed to Seer who was laid back on the other bed.

"Yo." She waved her hand in acknowledgement.

"The Caretaker and her found me on the streets of Vacuo and told me everything I know. They thought I could be a better Ghost Rider if I knew more about the world I lived in. Little did they know that the 'other guy' didn't really care about that plan."

"Clearly." Seer said. "One thing still bothers me though. Who were those men in the suits?"

"Could they be working with Centurious? I would've ruled in Vengeance but he comes across as the 'do it myself' type."

"I mean, I heard Centurious had agents everywhere but I didn't think they were **actual** agents."

"We'll deal with everything in the morning. Right now, we should all get some sleep. It's been a very long day for all of us." Blake said.

"Good idea." Johnny said as he laid back and closed his eyes.

Everyone eventually went to sleep except Qrow who looked at everyone sleeping before drifting off thinking.

' _Wizards, Riders, agents, demons. What the hell did I get myself into?_

* * *

(Hospital)

"Find anything useful?" Badilino asked one of the officers canvasing the area.

"Yeah, we've got a hand."

"A hand?"

"Yep, severed from a body that we can't find. Probably from one of the missing assailants."

"Alright, good. If you find anything on that front you call me, ok?"

"You got it." The officer said before walking away.

Badilino looked over the shot up hallway and sighed. He was brought out of his thoughts when his scroll started beeping. He opened it to see the name and image of Agent Uno.

"Yeah, boss?"

"You're not here, should I take it that you're investigating the possible 'Hellfire' sighting at the hospital?"

"Uh, yeah. Got here as soon as I heard about it." He lied.

"Good, Kowalski's on his way to help you out. Meet you both back at the precinct when you're finished."

"See you then." He put his scroll away and looked at his reflection in window looking into a vacant room.

Spurring on the memory of the Rider caused his eyes to glow red but stopped when he felt a sharp pain in his head. He massaged his temples trying to dull the pain.

"Not again…" He said before looking back at his reflection with normal eyes. He walked away from it, deciding to wait for Kowalski by the door and try to pretend that something wasn't wrong.

* * *

(The Firm, Vale HQ)

"Sir, one of the operatives from the hospital just arrived." An agent said.

"Send him in." Stern ordered.

"Yes, sir." He brought in the agent with a bandage covering where his right hand used to be.

"The operation was supposed to be discreet. Instead, two hospital staff members were killed unnecessarily and without reason, you sustained an injury, and the Ghost Rider slaughtered eight of our own."

"I'm sorry, sir. One of them spotted us and we tried to hunt them down but then the Rider appeared and then another one showed up. It was-"

"Another one?" Stern cut him off.

"Another Rider, sir, or at least something that looked like one."

"I see." Stern picked up the gun on his desk. "You mentioned that one of them had spotted you causing the chase. I am to assume that you were one of the two agents that fired inside the hospital and killed the two members of staff?"

"Yes, sir." After answering the question Stern fired the gun at him and he collapsed to the ground.

"Write in the report that instead of eight the operation suffered nine casualties." Stern said to the agent by the door. "I do not tolerate unnecessary killing nor do I tolerate bringing attention to us."

"Yes, sir. And I'll get someone to clean that up right away."

"Thank you." The agent left and Stern looked out the window with a contemplative look. "Two of them…Centurious will definitely want to hear about this."

"I already have." Centurious said, appearing out of thin air.

"What would you like us to do about this other Rider, sir?" Stern asked.

"Nothing. I believe that after I converse with him and, with some persuasion, he might be of some use to us." Centurious said with a smile.


	17. Hearts of Darkness: Know Thy Enemy

For the sake of surprise we'll leave the newest comic book character introduction at the end of this chapter. Hopefully, the reveal is a nice surprise for anyone who knows the character. Thank you for your continued support and we hope to keep making you proud as this story continues.

* * *

(Vale Police Department Precinct, Early Morning)

Badilino wiped his hands down his face in exhaustion, feeling the sleepless night catching up to him as the last eye witness walked away from his desk. A notepad appeared in front of his face held by a metal hand. He looked up to see Kowalski with a similar look of exhaustion.

"Here's everything I got from the hospital but nothing I could find about a possible location on our favorite killer. Figured you might be able to find something." Badilino took the notepad and started to look through it.

"I'll see what I can find. Any leads on those guys in the suits and the severed hand?"

"Nothing. Nothing on the guys in the suits, nothing on that guy in the helmet, just a whole lot of nothing." Kowalski sighed. "Oh, almost forgot. There's a guy over there asking to see you." He pointed to a man sitting in a chair waiting.

"He say why?"

"Nope, he said he'd only discuss it with you." Badilino eyed him suspiciously.

"Alright, thanks. I'll take it from here." After Kowalski left Badilino waved for the man to come over.

The man took a seat and Badilino looked him over. Middle aged, black slicked back hair, blue eyes, and a well-kept black suit with a small horned skull pendant on his lapel.

"Good morning, Detective." The man said.

"Wish I could say that it was, Mr.…?"

"Oh, I have had many names throughout my life. The name I go by now is Centurious."

"Centurious? Yeah, ok." Badilino said in disbelief. "The detective said that you only wanted to talk to me, any particular reason why?" He said, clearly out of patience.

"Yes, because you and I have a shared hatred of the 'Hellfire' murderer."

"I tend to keep my personal feelings to myself when I do my job."

"That is clearly not the case from what I have heard. You seemed to take your anger out on Mr. Blaze at the hospital last night." Badilino looked at him trying to keep the shock out of his eyes.

"I'm not sure what you-"

"Please do not waste my time." Centurious cut him off. "I know who you are and I know what that man has done to you. You want to kill him and coincidently so do I. What I am proposing is a brief partnership to defeat our common enemy."

Badilino sighed. "Look, if I was who you say I am, hypothetically speaking, then why would I need your help if I could take him out on my own?"

"Because, unlike you, he is not alone." Badilino grimaced, thinking back to Blake shooting him with ice rounds. "I faced similar trouble earlier that same evening and I figured that it would do better to face them together."

Badilino looked at him in realization. "You're the guy in the helmet."

"It was all to draw him out of hiding. No one was killed and I made sure no harm came to anyone. My agents have compensated those whose property I damaged."

"Agents? The same agents that attacked the hospital and murdered the two members of staff?" He asked in an accusing tone.

"That was unfortunate and not on my orders, no innocent lives were to be harmed. One was dispatched by the Rider and therefore payed for his transgressions."

"And the one who left without a hand?"

"We have made sure that he faced justice for those he killed." From his tone Badilino understood what he meant by that.

"I am curious as to how you came by your power. I do not sense another spirit within you so you cannot be another Ghost Rider. I wonder…"

"I made a deal with a guy who said he could grant me a similar power to his. Similar but not exact."

"I see. My proposition still stands, Detective. If you help me I will help you claim the revenge you seek." He said. Badilino thought it over for a moment and considered what his answer would be.

"On one condition."

"Yes?"

"I get to kill him."

Centurious smiled. "Of course." He lied.

* * *

(The Rip Van Twinkle)

"I'm still amazed that you can heal like that overnight without an aura." Sara said as Johnny removed the last bandage from his head.

"Magic does have its uses." He said smugly.

"My face still feels like crap, thanks for asking." Qrow said.

"Hope the new clothes fit." Blake said, ignoring Qrow. "Didn't think you'd want to walk around in tattered and…melted leather." She said as she looked over his old clothes.

After donning his new boots and black jeans he put on his new classic biker jacket with oval shoulder guards sewn in. After giving himself a once over he smiled.

"It's perfect."

"Guys look. We made the news." Wolff said, directing their attention to the VNN broadcast. Seer grabbed the remote and turned up the volume.

"-the police are still investigating the events of last night as two separate attacks but you're saying that there's a possibility that these attacks are connected?" Lisa Lavender asked. The camera then change to the person she was interviewing.

"Yes, I am." Dr. Petorious answered. "Two destructive attacks happening minutes apart on the same night is not what I call a coincidence. And this helmeted fellow-"

"You've got to be kidding me." Qrow said.

"Friend of yours?" Blake asked.

"More like work colleague, I knew him when I taught at Signal. He was let go long before I left, though."

"What'd he do, steal pens?" Seer asked.

"He was fired for teaching against the assigned curriculum. He was a professor of history but he kept going on and on to the students about people in the past using magic and fighting demons and yada-yada-yada. Stuff that sounded unbelievable."

"Well, I guess now we know he was right." Seer said.

"You're saying his theory about magical rainbow crabs controlling the minds of ancient humans was true?"

"Ok, he was somewhat right."

"Maybe…" Qrow said with his hand to his chin.

"Something you wanna share with the rest of the class, professor?" Johnny asked.

"Tattoo here doesn't know much more about our helmeted friend." He said pointing to Seer. "And everyone else you know can't help us. Maybe he can." Qrow pointed to Petorious on the screen.

"Seriously? You wanna ask 'rainbow crabs' for help against Centurious?" Johnny asked.

"It's worth a shot. He's been researching this kinda stuff for a long time, maybe he knows something we don't."

"I assume you know how where he lives."

"Yeah, he moved here after he was fired. Let's just hope he's accommodating to visitors." Qrow moved to the door. "Let's go, team." Blake moved to the door but Johnny stayed to talk to Sara.

"You ok?" He asked.

"As ok as I can be, why?"

"Just thought that you might not be too great after cutting off that guy's hand."

"You might wanna word stuff like that better in the future." She said after looking down from guilt.

"Sorry."

"It's fine…I'm fine. He was gonna hurt us and I reacted. Nothing I can do about it now, besides he got his hand cut off in a hospital so maybe he got help."

"Yeah." Johnny looked to Qrow and Blake waiting at the door. "I gotta go, but call if anything happens or if you wanna talk."

She looked up and smiled. "Will do."

Johnny turned to the door and walked out with the others to find Petorious. Sara just looked at the floor as the guilt lingered.

* * *

(Apartment Building)

"This place looks like a dump." Johnny said looking at the building covered in grime and dirt. "And I get the feeling that it looked like this before the Grimm attack."

"A dump to us, paradise to him." Qrow pressed a button next to a nametag labeled 'S. Petorious'.

"Hello?" Petorious asked over the intercom.

"Hey, Magic-Man. It's me, Qrow, wanted to come by and catch up."

"Qrow, if you came here to insult my research, I'm in no mood."

"I'm not here to make fun of you, I'm here with some…" Qrow briefly looked back at Johnny and Blake. "…associates of mine cause we need your help with something mystical."

"Really? What is it?"

"Only if you let us in."

"Oh, yes, of course!" The door buzzed open. They went in and made it to his apartment which was littered with research papers, newspaper clippings, and old food.

"Pardon the mess, I don't get many visitors."

"Have you tried dating?" Qrow asked.

"What was this thing you needed help with?" Petorious asked, not acknowledging the question.

"In your research, did you ever come across something about someone named Centurious?" Blake asked. Petorious thought for a moment.

"Actually, yes, I think I have." He walked over to some papers on his coffee table and found the paper he was looking for. "Here it is, 'The Man Without a Soul', this one was particularly intriguing. He sold his soul to the devil to save the woman he loved, he failed, and wandered the world alone for thousands of years. During his travels he learned different spells and mystical arts to become more powerful, gained many followers to carry out his orders, and destroyed any opposition in his way."

"We got that, is there anything in there about a weakness? A way to take him down?" Qrow asked.

"Why would you want to know that?"

"Because he was the one responsible for the attacks last night." Johnny said.

"Extraordinary…" Petorious muttered.

"So, about that weakness?" Qrow asked.

"Right, well there isn't one that I was able to find." The group took on a look of defeat. "Except…" Petorious began to think.

"Except what?" Blake asked.

"Well, it's said that he carries an artifact that reels in the souls of those he uses it on."

"The Crystal of Souls." Johnny said.

"Precisely. Now, the deal he made was centered on him defeating a demon that collected a large amount of souls. If you could somehow trick him into drawing in a large number of souls into the crystal then maybe the devil could break the contract he made with him and take him to the depths of Hell."

"What about the imprisoned souls?" Blake asked.

"From what I gathered on the Crystal and the workings of the devil's deals, he would have to release the souls from the crystal. Due to them being taken outside the parameters of a deal he cannot take them for himself and without a master to govern the item the crystal would set them free."

"Any other way to beat him?" Qrow asked.

"I'm afraid that's the only option I have for you."

"Well, something is better than nothing." Blake said. "Thank you so much."

"My pleasure, young lady. It feels good to be educating eager young students like yourself again."

"Thanks for the help." Qrow said as he passed by him. "We'll leave you to it. We wouldn't want to keep you from your next interview."

"Oh, yes, that's right. I forgot I had one in about an hour. Excuse me, I trust you'll be able to see yourselves out." He said as he rushed to get ready.

"Not a problem, it was good seeing you again, Petorious." Qrow said before leaving.

"He seems eager for that interview." Johnny said as they walked down the hall.

"Well, he's just glad people are finally listening to him after being ignored for thirty years." Qrow said as he put his hand in his pockets.

"Doesn't change the fact that his solution was our original plan which was quickly vetoed if I remember correctly." Blake said.

"I was thinking the same thing." Qrow sighed. "But it's the only thing we've got to go on." The sound of stomachs rumbling caught their attention. "Anyone hungry?"

* * *

(Back in Petorious's Apartment, a Few Minutes Later)

Petorious put on his tweed jacket and looked into the mirror one more time before he had to leave. He looked to the side of the mirror and saw the reflection of a man, startling him.

"Hello, Doctor. I'm Agent Stern and I hate to intrude but I'd like to ask you a few questions."

"People usually knock before entering."

"I'm sure they do. Have you recently come into contact with one of your former colleagues a-" Stern looked at his notes. "-Qrow Branwen?"

Petorious's eyes widened. "You're one of them, aren't you? One of the followers of Centurious. I've been dying to find one of you, hopefully to answer my questions." He said with a small smile.

"I'll take that as a yes." Stern said plainly. "And you should be careful what you wish for, Doctor. You've been dying to find one of us, you may just."

Petorious's smile faded and his expression took on one of worry as Stern's shadow moved towards him.

* * *

(Diner in Vale)

"So, is this place gonna be our spot from now on?" Johnny asked as they sat and ate in the diner they were in the day before.

"Seems like a nice enough place. I'd come back just for their banana cream." Qrow said before taking another bite of pie.

"It's not bad at all actually." Blake said as she took a bite from hers.

"Now that we can all agree that the pie is amazing, I may just have an idea about how to get rid of our problem."

"I'm also starting to think that this place is jinxed cause the last time you came up with an idea in here all three of us took a beating, two city blocks were blown apart, a hospital was shot up, and another flame-head on a motorcycle showed up to make our already terrible situation more difficult. At the very least it better not be as dangerous as the last plan." Qrow said.

"I need to get close to Centurious when I'm in human form."

Qrow threw his fork onto his plate. "I stand corrected, it's so much worse."

"I'm keen to agree." Blake said. "You barely made it out alive as the Rider and now you want to face him without any power."

"Thank you for the painful reminder, emphasis on pain, but Zarathos isn't going to follow any plan that doesn't involve blind rage and fierce punching. I can get in close and grab the crystal from him and hopefully force him to overuse it."

"Making him use it means sucking in souls of people in this city. You'd be risking the lives of all those people and what happens if Mephisto doesn't come and Centurious has all those souls in his possession?" Blake asked.

"He'll come. He's very territorial when it comes to the collection of souls."

"Aside from those two, what're we gonna do about 'tusks'?" Qrow asked.

"Seeing as how he's more focused on killing me I don't think he's going to arrest me so maybe if I visit him at the precinct I can talk to him without immediately being incarcerated."

"You may have a point, Qrow." Blake said. "This place does seem to help Johnny come up with bad ideas." She went back to eating her pie as Qrow laughed.

"Funny." Johnny said, monotone present in his voice. "I've been meaning to ask, what about your blade?"

"I might be able to repair it when I have the time. For now, I'll use the sheath for a blade if we run into any more suits or wizards. It's so strange to say something like that and it's not actually crazy."

"Welcome to my life." Johnny said with a smirk.

* * *

(Vale Police Department)

Badilino sat at his desk filling out paperwork when Agent Uno walked up.

"Find anything useful?"

"No, got nothing." He lied. "Just a bunch of ash and rubble." He sighed to make it more believable.

"People are dead, Detective. Find something before more people end up the same way." She ordered.

"Yes, ma'am."

"By the way, there's some guy asking to speak with you outside. Deal with that quickly and then get back to work." She said before walking away.

Badilino got up and started to head out when he spotted Kowalski who was listening from his desk. "Another visitor?"

"Hey, can't help if you're popular." Kowalski said with a chuckle.

Badilino made it outside and stopped when he saw who was waiting for him. Standing near the steps was Johnny who could practically feel Badilino's rage from where he was standing. Badilino walked over to him, looked around to see if anyone would overhear, and began to talk quietly.

"You **really** must want to die if you're seeking out the person who almost killed you last night."

"I've got a knack for surviving against impossible odds."

"So I've read."

"I didn't do it, you know." Badilino looked to him in slight confusion. "I didn't kill her." Badilino could only roll his eyes.

"Alright, this is how this is going to play out. You're going to walk away, I'll come find you when it gets dark, and the last one standing gets to decide what the truth is."

"How are you able to do that? Who gave you that power?"

"Seriously? You're asking for backstory?"

"Like you said, one of us could die later. I'd like to have a bit more clarity before that time comes."

Badilino chuckled. "You're confident, I'll give you that. Turns out I've always had this power inside me since the day I was born. Don't know why or how but after…her…" He struggled to continue. "I made a deal with someone to give me power that would rival yours. But they said that I already had that power and they would unlock it for me. The person I made the deal with told me all about you and how you vexed them."

"You sold your soul to Mephisto." Johnny sighed.

"Bingo."

"Mephisto manipulated you, it's what he does, he came to you in your time of grief to get what he wanted out of you."

"Either way, I got what I needed, and there's no way you can beat me."

"My friends have my back in either form so I think my chances are pretty good."

"I wouldn't be too sure. They were a problem last time because I was on my own, but I've recently made a new friend."

"Centurious…"

"Don't get too shaken up about it."

"Please, Michael. Don't do this, this isn't what Rebecca would have want-" He was interrupted when Badilino grabbed his throat.

"Don't you **ever** say her name." Some of the people nearby looked at the scene with concern.

Johnny tried to pry his hand off but couldn't remove it. He punched Badilino in the face but he barely moved. After hitting him again, Badilino lifted him up and dropped him to the ground, at which point people went up to the scene to stop Badilino from continuing. After being distracted by the people around him he looked back to where Johnny was only to see that he was gone.

* * *

(The Firm, Vale HQ)

Centurious stood gazing out the window from Stern's office as he walked in.

"I hope I haven't kept you waiting long." Stern said as he used a handkerchief to wipe blood off his hands.

"Did you gain any useful information from the prisoner?"

"He said that he told them that a way to stop you was to trick you into collecting a great number of souls to garner the attention of Mephisto to deal with you."

"That is useful, good work."

"What would you like us to do with the prisoner?"

"Keep him alive for now. He has some knowledge of the mystical, he may be useful later."

"Yes, sir." Stern's scroll then started beeping and opened it. "It's the detective."

"That was a quick development. I did not expect him to have any information so soon." Centurious said before taking the scroll. "Detective, I hope you are calling to tell me about a lead and not contacting to make sure the number I gave you was legitimate."

"It's a bit of both actually." Johnny said on the other line.

"Mr. Blaze, do you mind explaining why you have the detective's scroll in your possession?"

"I had a run in with him today and after finding out you two were working together I figured I'd take it to see if he had any contact with you."

"You must have gotten close in order to procure it."

Johnny rubbed where Badilino had chocked him. "I did. I called to arrange a meeting today. The keyword being day."

"You wish to face me without your power? Mr. Blaze, as I explained before, I do not wish to fight you, only the monster within." The scroll beeped signifying that a message had been sent.

"I just sent you the location of where to meet up. It's the only lead you have on me and I'm not going to be waiting there until nightfall so it's either wait until dark for nothing or face me now." Centurious took a moment to think and formulated an answer.

"I will agree to your terms."

"Good, see you soon." Johnny then hung up.

"Mr. Stern, have a group of agents on standby." He handed the scroll back to Stern with the location displayed on screen for him. "I have a meeting to get to." Centurious then faded away.

* * *

(Vale City Port)

"This place brings back fond memories." Blake said, reminded of the night that her and the others stopped Roman and the White Fang from stealing Dust shipments.

"Now we get to make new ones which may also be our last." Qrow said as they entered an empty warehouse.

"If everything goes according to plan, and it probably won't, then that hopefully won't be true."

"This is gonna be a lot harder now that helmet head's got 'hell cop' as his new partner."

"Yep, but if we can get Johnny close enough then we shouldn't have to worry about it for too long."

"Let's hope you're right." They stopped walking and stood next to Johnny and waited shortly for Centurious to arrive with Badilino.

"Figured you'd want this back." Johnny said before tossing Badilino's scroll to him. "Wasn't sure you'd make it."

"You wanted to talk with us and we arrived as agreed." Centurious said.

"Oh, I called you here but I never said anything about talking." Johnny and the others drew their weapons and opened fire.

Badilino pulled out his pistol and fired at them while going for cover. Centurious deflected the bullets as best he could and became preoccupied deflecting Blake's barrage that it gave Johnny the perfect distraction to get in close. He ran in from Centurious's right side, reached in to his tunic, and pulled out the crystal. They both held on tightly to the crystal and made sure not to let go.

"Your plan was to use **my** crystal against me. I have been the caretaker of this item for five hundred years and there is no possible way that I would let you have it turn on me. But, this works just as well. Like I said, my quarrel is with the monster inside, and what better way to get to him than to get rid of you?"

The crystal began to glow in front of Johnny's face. He could feel everything slipping away as the crystal glowed brighter. His soul was absorbed into the crystal and his body collapsed to the floor. Qrow and Blake looked on in shock at what had happened and Badilino used the distraction to hit Qrow in the back of the head.

"On your knees!" He pointed his gun at Blake. "You too!" She obliged.

"It is a shame, really." Centurious said looking at Johnny's body. "He had such potential. But, this was for the greater good." He walked over to Badilino.

"You said I would be the one to kill him!" Badilino said angrily.

"Yes, I did. You wanted to face the monster that murdered your beloved." The sun moved slightly and shade began to cover Johnny's body. "Now is your chance."

The other three then realized what Centurious meant as they looked at Johnny. His hand began to move and when his eyes disappeared they saw that even though Johnny was gone, Zarathos remained.

* * *

Johnny looked around at the world he was in but couldn't tell where he was. The sky was black and he noticed that the area he was in was an amalgam of different places from his memory compiled into one. He saw pieces of a carnival, areas of Vacuo, Windpath, and Beacon.

"I think I'm in serious trouble." He said.

"You really are the master of understatement, aren't you?" He turned around and was shocked to see a familiar masked face sitting on an old run down car. "What? Didn't expect to see me again? How naïve, just like mommy. Come on, you know my name, use it."

"Laughton." Johnny said.

"Uh-uh-uh, use my **real** name." He said waving his finger.

"Scarecrow…"

* * *

 **Comic book characters introduced: Scarecrow**


	18. Hearts of Darkness: Soul of Remembrance

Like in the previous chapter we'll leave the reveal of the latest comic book character addition at the end of this chapter for surprise value. Again, thank you all for your continued support. Happy reading!

* * *

(Crystal of Souls)

"I knew this would happen one day." Scarecrow said. "Me getting inside your head. I was being more metaphorical back then but this works just as well."

"How did Centurious even get you in here? Last I checked the asylum wouldn't let you have any visitors after you murdered those people. Secure cell, maximum security, heavy locks and all that."

"You see, that's where things get complicated. I'm not actually Scarecrow. I'm a manifestation from your memory formed by the crystal."

"To use against me. I remember Seer telling me about it."

"The crystal's already delving into the deepest parts of your memory to use against you. Do you know why it chose me?" Johnny looked away from him as he got off the car and walked up to him. "Because, unlike the others, I got under your skin, into your mind, and broke your spirit." He said with a chuckle.

Johnny looked at him. "But I still beat you." Scarecrow began to laugh.

"Oh please, you didn't beat anything. You use your other half to fight the battles you're too afraid to confront."

"And because the things I face are too powerful to be beaten by mortals."

"Fair enough, however that doesn't make my point any less true." Scarecrow put a hand on his shoulder. "But we're not here to talk about how strong either one of you are. We're here to finally shatter your soul." A door appeared in front of them. "Let's start with door number one. And no, there's no other way out of here. It's either forward or nothing."

Johnny reluctantly moved to the wooden door attached to nothing, twisted the door knob, and opened it.

* * *

(Vale City Port)

Centurious, Vengeance, and Zarathos fought intensely while Blake and Qrow did their best to dodge their various attacks until they finally got clear.

"This has gone from bad to screwed." Qrow said.

"Oh, really? What gave you that idea?" She said sarcastically as they made their way to the exit.

"We can't help him, he'll just try to kill us anyway. We need to get 'tattoo'." Qrow said, suggesting to Seer.

"Right behind you." Blake said.

Just as they were about to make their way out they were met with a team of Firm agents pointing their rifles at them. Blake managed to move her and Qrow out of the way just as they opened fire.

"We can't get out that way. Any ideas?" She asked. Qrow looked around and spotted an opening in the roof, small enough for a bird to fly through.

"Yeah, but it's not a great one." Blake arched her eyebrow in curiosity. "I'll go get help but that means leaving you here alone."

"Seriously?!"

"I don't like it either but we're all going to die if I don't do this! Look kid, I don't know you very well but, in the short time that I've known you, you've proven that you're no pushover. You've survived criminals, breaches, and an invasion of monsters. I think you can survive this. Just hold out long enough until I get back." Blake took a deep breath and nodded, signaling him to go.

He ran away from view, transformed into his crow form, and flew through the opening. Blake readied her weapons and looked into the direction of the strike team at the entrance.

"You better make it fast Qrow or I swear my ghost will haunt you forever." She said as she readied herself to attack.

* * *

(Crystal of Souls)

Johnny walked through the door to a new location which he quickly deduced as one of the grassy areas of Beacon. It looked untouched and monster free and he couldn't help but think about how much he missed it. He looked around to see passing students but his attention was drawn to Weiss sitting on a bench reading a book with an apple resting on a napkin next to her. He was about to talk to her until he heard his own voice from next to him and saw his past self, dirty from tending to the lawn.

"You know, when I said you could have a picnic on the grass I meant it. You don't have to sit on a bench in the sun, the shade from the trees look more enticing." Past Johnny said with a smile.

"While I appreciate the offer I didn't plan on having a picnic today. I **was** focusing on studying but the dorm is a little…rowdy." She said in an irritated tone.

"Sounds rough." He said. "May I ask what the source of said rowdiness was?"

"Why, our glorious leader of course." She said sarcastically.

"Sounds like there're some issues there beyond the noise."

"Don't get me wrong, she has improved, but there are still…"

"Lapses?" She nodded yes. "You're not used to having friends are you?"

Weiss took on a sour expression. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"You don't seem like you're used to other people."

"I **have** talked to other people before."

"Any of them close to you personally?"

"There's my sister and the family servant Klein."

"But nothing in the way of friends from outside of the family." He didn't receive an answer but the look on her face told him he was right. "Do the two of you argue?"

"Yes."

"Do you get on each other's nerves?"

"All the time."

"Congratulations, you've made your first friend." Weiss took on a look of confusion before speaking.

"Is…is it always like that?"

"Always."

"It sounds dysfunctional."

"Not really, it just means that you know each other well enough to know which buttons to press. Every friendship is like that, trust me."

"Even your friendships?"

"Especially mine." He said with a chuckle. "My friend's name was Michael and we grew up together. We would always get on each other's nerves about something but it was never too bad and when it was we would make it up to each other after." Past Johnny saw that she briefly had a look of reflection on her face. "And something tells me you guys have already been there."

"It was…a minor dispute about leadership."

"You wanted to lead the team?"

"Professor Port told you, didn't he?"

"Nope, you just seem like the kind of person that would make a fuss about it." Again, Weiss' expression turned sour to which Johnny chuckled. "I didn't mean to upset you, I apologize."

"Apology accepted." She looked over to see the area of grass where he was working. "I see you're laying down new grass again."

"Yeah, well, I did have to replace the grass Cardin messed up the other day."

"Nice work, but the gardeners back home can do a more decent job." It was his turn to take on a sour look that was met by light laughter.

"Oh, so now you've got jokes? Well played, heiress well played."

"We've now both gotten on each other's nerves. I believe that makes us friends?" Past Johnny took a moment to smile before answering.

"Yes it does."

The present Johnny smiled at the exchange until he saw Scarecrow come into view.

"Aw, that was nice." He said as he took the apple sitting next to Weiss. "When was this?" He then lifted up his mask and bit the apple. He then groaned in disgust, spat out what he ate, and threw the apple away.

"It was about two days after I met her and the others. She seemed out of sorts so I thought I would look into what was bothering her."

"Her hero." Scarecrow said sarcastically.

"It's called being nice. Something you never learned how to do."

"And look where being nice got you. Selling your soul, killing people, causing mayhem. Oh, yeah, being nice did wonders for you." Johnny only grew more impatient with the fake Scarecrow as time went on.

"Now come on." The door appeared again. "Mommy wants to see what's behind door number two."

* * *

(Vale City Port)

Vengeance restrained Zarathos with barb wire while Centurious furiously punched him trying to wear him down. Zarathos managed to catch his right fist under his chin and managed to twist it. After Centurious backed off to tend to his injured hand Zarathos pulled on the wire and threw Vengeance through a window to the outside into the sunlight rendering him human. Blake was preoccupied trying to fend off the strike team, dodging bullets, and knocking them into each other. Zarathos grabbed the shotgun that Johnny had dropped, channeled hellfire through it, and fired at Centurious which sent him flying to the other end of the warehouse. After dispatching of Centurious his attention was turned to the noise of battle outside. He tried making it outside but stopped before stepping into the sunlight. He pulled out the shotgun and fired on the strike team turning them all into ash. He then turned the gun on Blake and was about to fire until she spoke.

"You need me!" His head tilted in curiosity. "You won't be able to leave this place while the sun is out without my help and I can't help you if I'm dead." He took a moment to think about his next decision.

He holstered the shotgun. "Help me then."

* * *

(Crystal of Souls)

"The fairgrounds?" Johnny asked after walking through the door into the next memory.

"Kinda." Scarecrow answered. "It's the edge of the fairgrounds. You know, since they kept reminding you of home, you didn't feel like going near them."

"I remember."

"Speaking of which…" Scarecrow pointed to the memory in question. It was Johnny with team JNPR, Arslan Altan, Neon Katt, and Flynt Coal while they watched Reese Chloris perform tricks on her hoverboard.

"Those are some fine moves." Flynt said.

"Recognize the memory?" Scarecrow asked.

"Yeah." Present Johnny said. "This was about an hour after team FNKI lost to team RWBY in the doubles round. JNPR ran into them while they were dealing with the loss and the other two showed up after. I was tending to the trash when I ran into them." He finished just as Reese was descending to the ground.

"That was awesome!" Neon exclaimed.

"Thanks, took lots of practice to get it all down though." Reese said with a smile.

"It's still good. Sure, you're a little sharp on your turns but you're still phenomenal regardless." Past Johnny said.

"Sharp on the turns, huh?"

"It's not a bike but I can see where improvement is needed. As long as you keep practicing you'll get the hang of it. You're doing great so far."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." She said as they exchanged smiles until she started looking at him curiously. "Bike? Wait, are you?..." Her expression then changed to shock. "You're him aren't you? You're Johnny Blaze!"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, that's me."

"Oh my god! I'm a huge fan! I watch your videos all the time! Well, not as much as I used to but still…" She gleamed.

"An adrenaline fueled skater-girl watched my old stunt videos. Not surprising." He said with a chuckle.

"Wait, you're the stunt performer she used to go on about?" Arslan asked in slight disbelief. "I have to say I did not expect to meet you here of all places. Actually, I didn't expect to meet you ever."

"I don't if I should be more insulted by the 'never meeting me ever' part or the ' **used** to watch my videos' part."

"No, no, no, I didn't mean…what I meant was life got busy and…" Reese tried her best to continue.

Johnny laughed. "I'm kidding, it's fine. I'm glad I still have fans long after I left the carnival."

"I was always curious." Pyrrha said. "What kind of stunts did you do?"

"All kinds. Did wheelies, jousting was a fun one, globe of death, but mostly jumps. Sometimes through wheels of fire, over cars, but riding off ramps and sticking the landing was the most frequent one."

"Think you'd be able to do one now?" Reese asked with wide eyes and a big grin.

"Ooh, that'd be amazing!" Neon said.

"Well, I don't know if I-"

"Come on, man. Do it for them." Flynt said.

"Yeah, show us you still got the moves." Nora said.

After looking at their expecting faces he relented and went to go fetch his motorcycle. He came back with it and looked to find that Nora had set up a ramp by smashing a concrete table and pushing it into the ground.

"We're **not** telling Glynda about this, agreed?" Johnny said to which they all nodded.

He revved the engine and took off heading for the ramp. The bike leaped off the ramp, landed, and Johnny hit the brakes making it slide sideways to a stop.

"It's not the greatest stunt in the world but I think that was decent enough for a small scale performance."

"That was still cool! I'm just glad I got to see an actual Johnny Blaze stunt in person." Reese said.

"Since I got the bike out, how about I teach you how to soften those turns?"

"Really?"

"Really." Reese got on her board and they rode off together down the path to begin the lesson.

"Donating your time and skill to a person you just met. Jeez, you weren't kidding about that 'being nice' thing were you?" Scarecrow said in slight disgust.

"I'm sorry not all of us can be psycho murderers like you." He said sarcastically.

"Apology accepted." He directed his attention to the group of teens from the memory. "You made connections with them. The ones you had just met. Small connections but still…you were opening yourself up and making new friends. You wanted to belong."

"Figuring that out the more you pry into my memories?"

"That's just one thing about you though. Let's keep looking to find out more." The door reappeared for them to walk through.

* * *

(Vale City Port)

Blake was able to find a blanket to cover Zarathos' top half from the sunlight but not long enough to cover his legs, rendering them human and lifeless. She carried him as best she could through the port to see if she could find a vehicle to get them out. She found a pickup truck and put Zarathos in the passenger seat before getting in the driver's side to search for the keys. She couldn't find them.

"Come on!" She shouted as she slammed her hand on the steering wheel.

Zarathos put his right hand on the dash and channeled hellfire throughout the truck making it start. It began to move forward on its own until Blake took the wheel and began steering. The noise brought the attention of the other agents in the area and they opened fire on them as they tried to escape. The truck suffered no damage until Centurious fired a blast at the front tire, sending the tire flying off, and rolling the truck to a stop upside down. Blake unbuckled her seatbelt dropping her onto the roof and she noticed that Zarathos was in the sunlight and in his place was Johnny's comatose body. Centurious moved towards the truck and reached out to them. Before he could get closer a portal opened up in front of him and a large sword came slashing down on his face. He looked back up to see Qrow battle ready while Seer and Wolff carried the other two through the portal. Centurious fired another blast at them but the portal closed before it could do any damage to them causing Badilino to kick over a metal drum in frustration.

"Calm down." Centurious said.

"Calm down?! We had him and now he's gone! Again!" Badilino then began to cough.

"We still hold victory over them. We've taken away the soul, so to speak, of their little group." He said as he held the crystal in his hand. "How long do you think it will take for him to kill them all?"

"I thought we were going to kill him and let them go?" Badilino questioned.

"They would only come back for us. Better to silence any resistance than to leave it and have it fester. Come now, detective. I believe it is time that you see the next phase of our plan." Centurious took his shoulder and all of them vanished into thin air just as the police arrived.

* * *

(Crystal of Souls)

Johnny and Scarecrow ended up in the Beacon library next. They saw the memory of Johnny playing chess with Ren with most of the others watching while some of them did their own thing.

"You know, this isn't how I expected to spend my two week break. Watching you guys play for hours on end." Yang groaned.

"Yang, we've only been playing for five minutes." Ren said.

"It feels like an eternity."

"If you're bored with nothing to do you can take over for me." Johnny said.

"No thanks." She immediately responded.

"Yang, stop bothering them and let them play." Blake said, looking up from her book.

"Its fine, the game is over now." Ren said as he took Johnny's queen.

"Huh, I knew I was rusty but that ended quickly."

"I'm taken back myself. I'm not that good at chess either."

"And yet you beat me." Johnny said with a smile. "Good game."

"Do you want to go again or try something else?"

"Something else, please. I don't like the idea losing again so soon after the first defeat." He said with a chuckle. "Anyone wanna use the board?"

"I will. It's been a while since I've challenged myself in a game." Weiss said.

"Uh, no. No one does anything alone here. You play against Ren." Johnny said.

"You can't order me around."

"You're right. Ruby?"

"At least one game?" Ruby asked. Weiss eventually relented and took Johnny's seat after he moved over to the others at the nearby table.

"So, what's on the agenda today?" Johnny asked.

"Sit here and be bored." Yang said, her head on the table.

"Productive." Johnny said sarcastically.

"What about you? Don't you have work?" Pyrrha asked.

"Not today. I have Wednesdays and Sundays off. But I didn't know that this particular Wednesday would be met with such...boredom."

"Now you're getting it." Yang said.

Johnny looked over to the sheets of paper next to Nora who was turning them into paper airplanes and throwing them at Ren to get his attention. Johnny grabbed a sheet, cut a small piece from it, and made a small paper crane.

"Ooh, that looks neat. How'd you learn to do that?" Nora asked.

"My mom loved making these. So, she naturally taught me how to do the same. I'll teach you guys too and you can even draw some designs on them if you want."

"Now that sounds lovely." Pyrrha said.

They all learned and began making their own. Even Blake took herself out of her reading and joined in the fun. Present Johnny looked at his past self still teaching Ruby how to properly fold the paper into shape while the others quickly got the hang of it.

"Aw, you've got attachments to your mommy too." Scarecrow said.

"Ok, seriously. Stop with the 'mommy' thing. I had enough of it when I was dealing with the real you, I **really** don't need to keep hearing it from the fake one."

"Buzzkill."

"Psycho."

"Not the point. In this memory you expanded on the friendships you already made with these people. Teaching, connecting, and even looking out for them." Johnny arched an eyebrow in question. "I have to explain everything. You didn't want Weiss to play alone so you thoughtfully found a way to have her enjoy an activity with a…actually, I don't know if her and the green one would be considered friends."

"Laughton." Johnny said in order for him to continue his point.

"Right. And the others were bored so you gave them something fun to do. So compassionate."

"And your point is?"

Scarecrow sighed in frustration. "For the love of…look, let's just keep going through memories and you'll find out for yourself. I can't be the one to explain it to you, you need to figure it out yourself." He said before the door appeared.

"Why?" Scarecrow opened the door.

"Like I said." He kicked Johnny through it. "I can't be the one to explain."

* * *

(The Rip Van Twinkle Rooftop)

The others stood a good distance away from Zarathos who sat in the shade from the entrance to the roof. Any time he would throw a chain at them it would fail to reach them as the power running through it would die in the sunlight.

"Can't say this is how I expected today to turn out." Qrow said.

"It's strange. The truck lasted longer in the light than the chain."

"It wasn't supposed to. He must have been exhausting himself to keep it going. He could've died."

"I wonder why he'd do that for you, seeing as how he tends to hate everyone." Wolff said.

"Not for her…" Zarathos said. "For me. I did it for my survival. I would rather kill her than help her."

"You should be more grateful that you're even alive, demon." Seer said. "If it wasn't for us you wouldn't have even made it out of that port the way you are. So I wouldn't be too keen on killing those who helped me if I were you."

"But you're not me. If you were, you'd act the same way in the face of all of your sins."

"And yet you're not in a position to pass on judgement cause if you were you'd be dead like the lady said." Qrow added. Blake held her hand to Qrow to back off and made her way closer.

"You're right." Zarathos picked his head up to look at her. "We've done terrible things in the past. All of us. But so have you." She knelt down to be at eye level. "You hoarded souls, killed people, and destroyed lives. It's because of the horrible things you've done that we're even in this mess. You want to go on about **our** sins but you carry more sins than any of us combined. You don't get to decide who dies if you're guiltier than anyone else on this planet." Zarathos looked down in reflection.

"You are brave to confront me, girl. There is a fire in you." Zarathos chuckled. "But I am not shaken from my resolve."

"I didn't expect you to be. But I do expect you to work with us."

"And why would I do that?"

"Because you can't beat them on your own, especially in your current state, and you'd die otherwise." Zarathos took a moment to think.

"I will work with you until this is over. But when this alliance ends and the enemy is gone I shall wreak my vengeance upon you."

"Dually noted." Qrow said. "Now that you're finally in a talking mood explain to us the whole situation with your 'best friend'." He said doing air quotes.

"It was long ago and I was…different. I was power hungry and needed a way to sustain my power. I knew the ways of Hell and began taking the souls of others for my own. Normally the body of an angel wouldn't be able to cope, but Mephisto had changed me." Zarathos' fist tightened in anger. "Warped my body and mind into something grotesque. In order to increase my power I would need a steady supply of souls to absorb. One of these souls was his beloved."

"Yes, yes, we've heard all this before."

"I know. Even after our battle he was undeterred in his mission to defeat hunted down past hosts and killed them hoping that it would finally destroy me. All in the hopes that it would free his beloved from within me."

"Would it?" Sara asked.

"No. After Mephisto reclaimed me I was forced to relinquish my power and all the souls that supplied it. Her spirit was freed and passed on. I have endlessly told him this and he refuses to believe it. And even if he did, he would still attempt to kill me for revenge."

"Like he's been trying to do this whole time?" Qrow said.

"Yes."

"So if the truth won't stop him, what will?"

"Mephisto." Zarathos answered. "The plan does not change. If he can still be tricked into absorbing a large quantity of mortal souls then the devil will come for him."

"We tried that and look what happened."

"Yes, and it may not take long for Mephisto to sense that Blaze and I are no longer bound together and come for me. For this to work you must exploit his weakness, his anger. Taunt him over the one he lost and he'll be sure to make a mistake. For instance, absorbing souls to increase his power to destroy us and make us stop." Blake turned to the rooftop entrance.

"Shh, I hear something." She moved closer to it and was met with the door bursting open with Firm agents lining up to aim their weapons at them.

"Do not move!" One of them shouted. "Surrender and this can all end smoothly."

"By 'end' you mean kill, right?" Seer asked.

"It'll be quick. That is a one-time offer. Should you refuse, your deaths will be slow."

"They need to work on their sales pitch." Seer said raising a shield sigil to block the oncoming fire.

She opened a portal for them and they all made it through with Qrow helping Blake carry Johnny's limp body through the sunlight. The portal opened to their room and Wolff quickly dispatched of the two agents guarding Carter. Wolff picked him up and went back through the portal. When the portal closed they noticed that they were in a forest.

"Where are we?" Blake asked as she set Zarathos down in the shade of a tree.

"Patch." Seer said. "Their main focus is in Vale. Better to remove Vale from the equation until we get a game plan together. And we're nearby enough to catch any local news in case something happens."

"Good thinking." Qrow said. "Now would be a great time to think of our next move." Qrow took out his flask. "Here's hoping you're not as crazy as Johnny when it comes plan making."

"You might be disappointed." If Zarathos had skin he would be smiling.

* * *

(Crystal of Souls)

Johnny picked himself up off the ground after getting kicked through the door as Scarecrow smugly walked past. Johnny brushed himself off and started to take notice that there were crowds of people walking around him.

"Where are we?" Johnny asked.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to the Quentin Carnival!" Shouted the announcer at the entrance. Johnny couldn't speak through the shock.

"Know where we are now?" Scarecrow asked.

"Home…"

"Oh, I think the memory is over there." Scarecrow pointed to two children playing together. As they got closer, Johnny could make out that the two young boys were himself and Wolff.

"You know, you were a cute kid. Shame you grew up to be…this." Scarecrow gestured to the present Johnny.

"Come on, you gotta catch us!" The young Wolff said.

"Yeah! Come on,-" They could see that the young Johnny said something but didn't come out as audible.

"Now that's interesting." Scarecrow said in surprise.

"We're done here."

"No, wait. Wolff isn't running from you. No, you're both running from someone else."

"Leave it, Scarecrow." Johnny said adamantly, grabbing his arm.

Scarecrow laughed. "What don't you want me to see?"

"I'm warning you."

"You're warning me?" After a moment Scarecrow knocked him to the ground with one punch. Johnny tried to get up but couldn't.

"You don't make the rules here! If I want to find something I find it, if I want to know something I'll look for it, and if I tell you to do something you do it." Scarecrow raised his arm to the invisible figure to reveal who they were. Johnny shouted in pain as he tried to resist the stone but couldn't and Scarecrow saw the truth.

"Well, now I see why you were so adamant." Scarecrow chuckled. "It wasn't just the two of you growing up was it?"

"No…" Johnny said, finally able to move again.

"Then tell me, Johnny." Scarecrow looked to the figure playing with the two boys. "Who is she?" He asked gesturing to the little girl trying to catch the two friends. Johnny looked at the girl and shed a tear at the memory of her.

"Roxanne…"

* * *

 **Comic book characters introduced: Roxanne Simpson**


	19. Hearts of Darkness: A Light in the Dark

We have now reached the end of Hearts of Darkness! We hope you guys enjoyed this arc as much as we enjoyed writing it. As this arc ends, details of the next one will make themselves apparent near the end and we will leave the title for it at the end of this chapter to get you hyped. Also, wanted to point out that the final line Petorious gives is a line from Bride of Frankenstein as a fun little nod to the inspiration of his character. Again, thank you all for your continued support and we'll see you in the next story arc.

 **Comic book characters introduced: Lilith, Mother of Demons**.

 **Comic book characters mentioned: Tarantula (Clay Riley)**

* * *

(Crystal of Souls)

"Roxanne? She must be important if you wanted to keep her a secret." Scarecrow said as Johnny picked himself up from the ground.

"She…" Johnny struggled to finish.

"Go on, spit it out."

"She grew up with us."

"I feel like there's more to that than you're letting on. Let's delve deeper into that shall we?" Scarecrow went through the door and pulled Johnny in. They were then a distance away from the carnival near a tree where a young Johnny was crying under.

"Johnny!" They turned their attention to a slightly older Roxanne running to find her friend. "You just ran off-" She stopped when she heard the sobs and knelt down to hug him.

"Now I doubt you'll have any difficulty identifying this memory." Scarecrow said.

"This was the day after my mother died. I ran off trying to get away from the reality of it but she came looking for me to see if I was ok." Johnny looked at the memory in silence for a moment. "She always looked out for me."

"Touching." Scarecrow said with disdain. "Let's skip ahead a little bit. This 'looking out for each other' moment's gonna make me heave."

They went through the door to the same tree but during a later memory with an older Roxanne and Johnny holding hands.

"Ooh, a little close there." Scarecrow said mockingly. "When was this?"

"About three years after the last memory. We started getting closer a few months before this."

"Hey, you know what we should do?" She asked the younger Johnny.

"What?"

"We should go on a road trip. Just you and me."

"A road trip?"

"Yeah. We could travel to the other kingdoms, take in the sights, and eat all the food." She took on an expression of thought filled bliss. "I **need** to eat the food." She said, making him laugh.

"Sounds like a plan but what about our dads? They need us for the show."

"My mom can take over my job until we get back and Michael can take over for you."

"About that. I just found out this morning that Wolff and his dad are moving to Atlas at the end of next week."

"What?"

"His parents' divorce was finalized the other day."

"How come he didn't tell me?"

"He said that this whole thing's been hard on him and it was difficult enough to talk to me about it. I guess that means he didn't tell you so he wouldn't break down in front of you."

"Man, I can't believe he's leaving. We grew up together! The three of us! It can't end like this!"

"It's not our place to decide. His dad is adamant about leaving and he doesn't seem to be in the mood for changing his mind."

"Damn. I can't believe this!" She said kicking a rock.

"Hey, it'll be ok." He grabbed her hand. "He'll keep in touch. Knowing him, he'll call us every day."

"Yeah…" She said looking at the ground. Johnny lifted her chin up to look at him.

"I know this sucks but we've got to make the best of this situation. This whole thing's been harder on him than anybody so let's put on a brave face and help him through this, ok?"

She sighed. "Ok."

He kissed her forehead. "Everything's gonna be fine."

"But it wasn't." Scarecrow said. "And it was only going to get worse."

"Alright, you've made your point. This is far enough."

"You're right. I've made my point but you're still not getting it." He said as the door reappeared.

After taking a moment to look back at the memory of him and Roxanne holding each other he went through the door. They looked to find Roxanne arguing with Ralph Quentin about firing Johnny from the carnival but stopped at the sound of Johnny's motorcycle's engine. She ran to the entrance to see Johnny on his bike with a bag over his shoulder. They looked at each other with pained expressions but before she could do anything Johnny drove off without saying a word.

"Oof, that's rough." Scarecrow said. "Doesn't take a genius to figure out that this was after Mephisto had a word with you about what you became after the deal. And because of that you decided to break her heart."

"I had to. It was either that or involve her, and I wasn't going to drag her down into that life with me."

"And yet, it's one of your greatest regrets." He looked to see the distant pained expression the present Johnny had. "Did you figure out the point of all this yet?"

Johnny shook himself from his thoughts. "I got a theory."

"Well?" Scarecrow said for him to continue.

"The memories have all been about me and the people I affected. The people I was close to and the ones I only knew briefly. The memories of how they helped me grow as a person and discover my inner strength. My strength is my connection to them. That's the point."

Scarecrow clapped. "Finally! God, that took forever. I was starting to think you were never going to get it."

"What I don't understand is why I needed to realize that. What was it even for?" Suddenly the world around them went dark.

"Better to exploit a strength than a weakness. Turn the things you cared for into your worst nightmares. It's what the crystal does." Scarecrow removed his mask and looked at Johnny. The bloodied face under the mask being Ruby's. "Or did you forget where we are?" Black ooze began to pour from the eyes and mouth as the distorted face continued to laugh.

* * *

(Forest Near Beacon, Sunset)

Centurious walked with Badilino and the other agents through the forest for the next phase of Centurious' plan.

"So, are you going to tell me what we're doing out here in these Grimm infested woods?" Badilino asked.

"Patience, detective. It is better to show you than to tell you."

"Yeah, well, hope you show it soon cause I'm not too comfortable out here." Badilino began coughing to the point where he had to hold on to a tree until he stopped.

"You did not seem well back at the port either."

"I'm fine. Let's just keep going."

"If you say so." They walked for a few more seconds until they arrived at their destination.

"Ok, now I'm curious." Badilino said looking wide eyed at what was in front of him. "What the hell does this have to do with the next phase?"

"This is how we draw out Zarathos for the last time. No more running around trying to pick up the trail every time he runs. Once we have it operational, **this** will be the vessel of our final battle." Centurious looked to Badilino with a smile. "I hope you are ready."

Badilino continued looking forward. He remembered the damage sustained during the Fall of Beacon. Destroyed homes, broken streets, the fallen academy, and three destroyed Atlas carriers including Ironwood's capital ship. The capital ship crashed in the city but the other two were dispatched over Beacon airspace. One of which Badilino was staring at.

* * *

(Crystal of Souls)

Johnny tried to move but the pain was too much. He looked down at his chest and saw the curved blade of Crescent Rose going through it. He then looked at his hands and saw Myrtenaster going through his right and Gambol Shroud through his left. His right leg was pinned through by Miló and through his left was Qrow's weapon. He stayed there pinned to a wall as the crystal tortured him with false images of his friends dying horrible deaths over and over again. The figures he saw before him dissipated when another figure walked through them. The mysterious man took all the weapons out of Johnny's appendages and caught him when he dropped down from the wall. When Johnny looked up to see who had freed him he saw a familiar face.

"Carter?"

"Hey, kid. Looks like ya got yourself into a world a trouble."

Johnny chuckled. "Kind of an understatement. How did you even know I was here?"

"I got away from my own torture chamber and walked around through other people's memories. I found myself walkin' through some of yours and that's how I found out you were in here. So, I just kept siftin' through em until I found the real you."

"Oh, that's very thoughtful of you."

"Who'd the crystal use to guide you through the memories?"

"Scarecrow."

"Ugh, Caretaker told me about 'im, he's nasty business."

"What about you?"

"Clay Riley the Tarantula, a guy I fought for most of my time as the Phantom Rider."

"He sounds just as lovely." Johnny said as he struggled to stand up. "We need to find a way out of here."

"Before we do that. Kid, what do you remember about the night your old man died?"

"What does that have to do with-"

"Just answer the question."

Johnny took a moment. "Feeling like the world had ended."

"Anything else? Anything out of the ordinary?"

"Why are you asking me about this, Slade?"

"Come on, there's somethin' I gotta show ya."

* * *

(Island of Patch, Night)

"Ok, so, Centurious and his goons gotta have a place of operations in Vale." Qrow said. "They've got to house all those agents and weapons somewhere. If we can find where they're operating out of then we can catch them by surprise."

"Take the fight to them?" Blake questioned. "I mean, they wouldn't be expecting us which would give us the upper hand."

"They'll be disorganized and sloppy." Seer said.

"This might just work." Blake said.

"It will." Zarathos chimed in. "However, their leader will be more difficult to trick since he knows of our plan to make him use the crystal."

"Well, like you said, exploit his weakness. Hopefully all of us bringing up his dead girlfriend will make him slip up." Qrow said.

"I'm not too comfortable going in without a weapon." Wolff said.

"You don't have to worry about that since you're not going."

"What?! No! That tin headed jerk took my best friend's soul. I'm not gonna sit back and do nothing!"

"Believe me, I'd be happier to have you come with us. It'd be nice to have more hands on deck but we've got him to worry about." Qrow said pointing to Carter. "We left him unguarded once and they almost killed him and I'm guessing that they'd love for us to make that mistake again."

"If that's the case then I'm staying with him." Sara said.

"Now hold on-"

"Wolff doesn't have a weapon. Do you expect him to hold them off with his bare hands?"

Qrow groaned. "Alright. So, that just leaves the four of us." He said gesturing to himself, Blake, Seer, and Zarathos. "Anyone got any ideas on how to find out where they're coming from?" Before anyone could come up with one, they were interrupted by the VNN broadcast they had left running on Seer's scroll.

"We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you urgent news of an Atlesian carrier flying above the city of Vale." Lisa Lavender reported. Seer immediately grabbed her scroll and everyone crowded around to watch. "It is believed to be one of the crashed ships that were present during the Vytal festival. From the footage we can see suited individuals on the ship's deck."

"Looks like they're trying to draw us out." Seer said.

"It seems to be hovering in a stationary position above the cit-" She stopped as the carrier fired its front-facing lasers at an apartment building, destroying it completely. "Oh no! I-It has opened fire, I repeat, the ship has just opened fire on the city."

The group quickly looked at each other. "We need to go." Blake said.

* * *

(Atlesian Carrier Bridge)

Badilino came running in and grabbed Centurious by the arm. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Getting their attention." Centurious said calmly.

"I was all for killing the Rider, but killing innocents was **never** an option! This is too far!"

"For you. It is unfortunate that innocents have to die but it is all for the greater good." Badilino looked at him in astonishment and disgust. "Their deaths will bring Zarathos here, seeking vengeance for their murders, and then he will die which in turn will save countless more lives down the line from Zarathos' wrath."

Badilino transformed into Vengeance and wrapped a link of wire around Centurious' arm. "You're not killing anyone else!" He started getting dizzy and lost his footing.

Centurious then grabbed him by the throat. "I'm afraid that you are not going to stop me." He pulled out the crystal, absorbed Badilino's soul, and dropped his body from his grip. "Throw this filth overboard. I will not have weak minds that can't do what must be done on my ship." Two agents picked up Badilino's body and took him outside to the deck.

"Not a smart move betraying the boss like that. Shouldn't have tried to stop him."

"Well, now he's paying for it, ain't he? Alright, I got his legs. You get the top half and we'll do it in one throw." They were interrupted by a whistle and turned to see what caused it. The agent in charge of the top half was blasted in the face and knocked out by Seer while the other had his head brought to the ground by Blake.

"Looks like he got the crystal treatment. Not much loyalty around here is there?" Qrow said.

"I guess not." Blake said. "Let's get him inside and then we'll take on Centurious."

"And why would we help with this guy?" Qrow asked.

"He tried to stop Centurious from killing people. That's gotta count for something." Qrow sighed and went over to help Blake. Once inside they sat him against a wall and started making their way to the bridge.

* * *

(Crystal of Souls)

Carter and Johnny finally made their way to the memory of the night Johnny's father died.

"Why are we here?" Johnny asked.

"Just watch."

They watched as Johnny's father drove forward on the road as a truck came barreling towards them from the side. Present Johnny closed his eyes before he saw the impact, not wanting to relive that night. Carter nudged his shoulder to open his eyes and when he did he saw that the memory had rewound itself and paused to the moment just before the crash.

"You said that the driver fell asleep at the wheel, right?"

"Yeah, he said he blacked out while he was driving."

"Sometimes we miss things in our memories. They're there but we don't focus on em. Now, look at the driver and tell me what ya see."

Johnny walked over and looked inside the truck. He saw that the driver was wide awake.

"He was awake…"

"Not only that, look closer."

When Johnny did he saw that the driver had glowing red eyes and saw in the reflection of the windshield a familiar face.

"Mephisto." Johnny said angrily. "He possessed the driver…he killed my dad!"

"Yes, he did. Which means he broke the contract." Johnny looked at him confused. "I guess he didn't let you read yours. It says in the contract that the deal broker is not to interfere in any way with the life of the person who accepted before their first transformation. He did this to make you angry enough to change and finally able to work for 'im."

Johnny took a moment to process. "So you're telling me that he did this, killing my dad, just so that he wouldn't have to wait as long to use me?!" Carter nodded yes.

"AAAHHHH!" Johnny screamed to the sky. "I'LL KILL HIM!"

"Kill who?" The memory faded as they turned to see who spoke. From the darkness walked in Badilino. "I guess I don't need to wonder where I am anymore."

"You? How the hell did you end up in here?" Johnny asked.

"Turns out our mutual friend tried drawing out your other half, who's in control of your body by the way, by piloting one of the Atlas carriers from the festival to blow apart Vale. I tried to make him stop but he ended up putting me in here."

"My god. We need to get out of here now."

"I've been stuck in here longer than you have and I ain't found a way out." Carter said.

"There's got to be something!" Johnny looked to Badilino. "You've been around Centurious, has he said anything about an escape from in here."

"And why would I help you?"

"Because if you don't people are going to die."

Badilino took a moment to think. "No, he didn't say anything about a way out. As far as I can tell we're stuck in here."

"Damn it." Johnny said. "There's got to be something."

"He did say that this crystal does stuff with memories." Badilino said. "It can show them like they were happening again."

Johnny quickly realized. "You want to know the truth about that night. The night Rebecca died."

"Yes."

Johnny let out a deep sigh. "Alright."

The surrounding darkness was replaced with the battle between Ghost Rider, Detective Taylor, and Diabolique. They watched as Diabolique used her magic to kill Rebecca and the Rider defeating the half-demon. The Rider checked to see if Rebecca was alive and the memory ended with the past Badilino arriving too late. The present Badilino shed a tear and after a moment looked at Johnny.

"How do I know that wasn't fake?"

"I haven't been in here long enough to know how to do that."

"I…I-" Badilino struggled to say.

"I know, let's save it for later. Right now we need to find a way out of here. Hope the others are doing better than we are."

* * *

(Atlas Carrier Bridge)

Blake, Qrow, Seer, and Zarathos were simultaneously thrown to the ground by Centurious.

"A valiant effort, but I learned a long time ago that the damned never win for long."

"I got a bad luck semblance working against you that says otherwise." Qrow said.

"Is that why we've been failing this whole time?" Blake asked between breaths. Qrow however just looked away with a guilty expression.

"I must say that I did not expect you to live this long seeing as how he is usually the one passing on final judgements." Centurious said looking at Zarathos.

"They will help me defeat you, warlock."

Centurious laughed. "Now **this** is surprising. Zarathos relying on the help of others rather than simply kill them. Oh, this will be an interesting fight. However, I am disappointed in you." He said looking at Blake. He fired a blast at her and her form dissolved like she was never there. The real Blake came up from behind him in order to get the upper hand but was caught by the throat. "You believed that I would fall for the same trick twice."

Just as he was about to kill her, Zarathos wrapped his chain around Centurious' right arm forcing him to let go of Blake, pulled him close, and grabbed the crystal from within his tunic. The crystal began to glow as Zarathos stared into it.

* * *

(Crystal of Souls)

As they tried to formulate a plan they noticed a floating flame form in front of them. When they got closer, the flames burst into a skeletal form engulfed in fire.

"Zarathos?" Johnny asked.

"Yes, I'm here. I was trying to manipulate the crystal into absorbing souls but found myself here instead."

"Can't believe I'm saying this but I'm glad you're here."

"I'm not the only one." He finished angrily as he looked behind the group. They all turned around to see a red suited man with a black coat and cane standing there.

"Hello, fellas. Been awhile." The man said smiling.

"Mephisto." Johnny ran to try and hit him but he dissipated and reformed next to them.

"Now that's not very nice."

"You killed my father!"

"Guilty as charged. I gotta say, I'm surprised it took you this long to figure it out." He then looked at Carter. "Hey there, old timer. It's been a long time since you ran off with my contract. I gotta say, you look better than ever."

"Better than your son at least." Mephisto took on a sour look until Johnny spoke.

"You broke the contract you made with me and you know what that means?"

"There's gonna be less clutter in my contract drawer?"

"It means the deal is void and I get my soul back."

Mephisto laughed. "Funny how you figured that out in here where you're doomed to stay for all eternity. It's a shame I won't get your soul, but at least I get my number one guy back." He said pointing to Zarathos who in turn hissed at him. "Face it, Johnny. I've won."

"Not unless we get out of here. And if we do, the contract is void in my favor, and not only do I keep my soul but he gets to stay with me."

"There's no way you can. No one has ever escaped from the Crystal of Souls."

"True, but they never had a Spirit of Vengeance to help them out before. One soul can't get out of here, but what about two souls combined?" They looked at each other in contempt until Badilino collapsed.

"Michael? Michael!" Johnny tried to help him stand but couldn't.

"I was wondering when that'd happen."

"What are you talking about?!"

"You see, the power that I unlocked for him is impossible to regulate without a Spirit of Vengeance. Because it's just him in charge the power is burning him up from within the soul. The more he uses it the faster he burns. It's been slowly killing him for the past few years."

"So, that explains why I've been feeling like crap lately."

"It's ok, Michael. You're gonna be just fine." Johnny said.

"No, he won't. Come on! Get with the program, Johnny! You can't win! You can't get out and you save him!"

"Yes, I can."

"Alright then, how?"

"By doing a little trick I tried once before." Johnny walked over to talk to Zarathos. "It seems like the old deal doesn't matter anymore."

"It would seem so."

"How about a new one?"

"Kid…" Carter said in a cautious tone.

"What are you doing?" Mephisto asked.

"What do you propose?" Zarathos questioned.

"Simple: We bond together and in return you get to destroy the truly wicked souls that roam free."

"That sounds-"

"Now hold on." Johnny interrupted. "That doesn't mean kill whoever you like. That means you destroy the worst, foulest, darkest degenerate souls to walk the planet and no one else. You get what you want, vengeance on those who destroy lives, and I get what I want which is getting all of us out of here. Deal?" Johnny held his hand out for Zarathos to shake. He took a moment to think before deciding on his answer.

"Deal." They shook hands and merged once again. Johnny walked over to Badilino with flames ignited in his hands.

"What're you doin', kid?" Carter asked.

"During the Fall of Beacon Zarathos passed on angel fire into the former Fall Maiden to revive her. I'm doing the same with him but this time with hellfire to keep him alive. Should work…hopefully." Johnny placed his hand on Badilino's chest and passed on his power into him. Afterwards Badilino inspected himself.

"How do you feel?"

"Better than I have in ages." He said with a smile.

"Looks like you won this time, Johnny." Mephisto said with disdain. "Next time we see each other, I won't be so lenient." He disappeared into thin air.

Carter helped Badilino to his feet. "I've obviously been outta the loop so you're gonna have to fill me in on this guy."

"Detective Badilino has Rider powers and tried to kill me."

"Sup?" Badilino waved awkwardly.

"Carter Slade, Phantom Rider, I used to have his job." Carter finished pointing to Johnny.

"Sounds nice. Pleasure to meet you."

"Ready to get out of here, guys?" Johnny asked.

"Hell yeah." Badilino said.

"I've had enough a this place." Carter said. They grabbed on to Johnny and in a flicker of light, they vanished.

* * *

(Atlas Carrier Bridge)

Zarathos was thrown back and landed on the ground while two lights flew from the crystal. One went to Badilino, who quickly woke up, and the other to Carter who startled Wolff and Sara when he did. Centurious looked to see the state of Zarathos to find Johnny picking himself up from the floor.

"Impossible…"

"Said the ancient wizard." Johnny said before transforming and wrapping his chain around Centurious' right arm.

Centurious tried to fire at them with his free hand but was then restrained by Vengeance's wire. Through anger he struggled to summon energy through his right hand for a blast and blew a hole through the side of the bridge, sucking out Vengeance and Seer. Seer opened a portal as they fell and ended up on the roof of the Rip Van Twinkle. Seer opened a portal to the bridge and were about to walk through until Qrow spoke.

"No! We got this. You go and take down their HQ!"

"What about him?"

"Like he said, we got this." Blake said. "Go!"

Seer reluctantly closed the portal and turned to Vengeance. "You know where they're operating from?"

"I wouldn't be a good detective if I didn't." He said before pointing to building in the distance. "They're good but not good enough to shake a tail."

"Looks like you following them came in real handy. It might just save the city."

* * *

(The Firm, Vale HQ)

The agents stood guard while the battle outside raged on. A portal opened in front of one of them and he moved closer to investigate after a moment. He was looking through it until a large hand grabbed him and pulled him through. The nearby agents opened fire into it hoping to kill whatever the threat was only to be met with a link of flaming barb wire ripping through them and turning them to ash. Vengeance moved through the portal to move through the building while Seer took care of the remaining agents. Vengeance stopped at an open door and moved in to see if there were more agents only to find a beaten prisoner chained to the wall. He went over to see if the prisoner was alive and, after the man let out a few coughs, he broke the chains and took him out of the room.

He transformed back into his human form. "It's ok, I'm a police officer and I'm going to get you help."

"No…stop…the Firm…" The man said.

"Don't worry about them right now. What's your name?"

"P-Petorious…"

"You're the professor from the news."

"Qrow needs to stop them…"

"Qrow? Mr. Branwen is currently busy with their boss right now."

"Of course he is. Never too far away from the fight that one." Petorious laughed.

"Ok, I've dealt with the ones I could find but there are probably gonna be more on the way." Seer looked at the professor. "Professor Petorious?"

"Seems I'm very popular these days."

"You're Qrow's work friend."

"Him and the others…the girl and the Rider…they need to stop these people. They need to make sure the servants of Centurious do not continue to operate."

"They won't be much of a problem once their boss is gone." Badilino said.

"You don't understand…the Firm plans to-" He was interrupted by a shot to the chest.

"Sorry, professor. Those secrets aren't meant for everyone." Stern said with a pistol in hand.

"You killed him…" Badilino said in shock as he stood up.

"He outlived his usefulness."

"I thought you people protected the world from mystical threats."

"And we do, sometimes that requires us to remove any opposition that would stop us from continuing our work. The safety of the world is far too important to worry about moral codes. Sometimes lives must be sacrificed to ensure the world keeps on turning." Stern was then sent flying from one of Seer's blasts. After a moment they began to hear the chatter of Firm agents from down the hallway.

"More are coming. You need to deal with them while I get him to a hospital."

"You got it." Badilino said before transforming into Vengeance and headed off down the hallway to intercept the team of agents.

When Seer turned around to get Petorious she saw that his body was gone and noticed that the door next to it was slightly open. She opened the door to see a munitions cache and saw that a box labeled grenades was empty. She ran down the hallway and just before Vengeance could engage the agents she opened a portal and pulled him through it. They ended up back to where Petorious was laying down before so Seer could kneel down and touch the blood splotches on the ground.

"You're supposed to be at the hospital!"

"Petorious decided to walk away when our backs were turned and took some explosives. I'm gonna try and find him."

"How can he walk away? The guy's old, beaten, and bleeding to death."

She ignored him to try and focus. Her clairvoyance showed her a vision of moving through the nearby elevator and into Stern's office where the professor was sitting in the chair behind the desk. She opened a portal to Stern's office and they both went through.

"Professor!" She said.

"They rigged explosives to the ship's engines. In the event that Centurious should fail, the Firm would detonate the explosives. The force of the explosions would take out most of the kingdom."

"The death toll would be catastrophic." Vengeance said.

"And the Grimm would move in to slaughter whoever's left." Seer added.

"But I have a plan." Petorious opened his torn jacket to show a belt of grenades with all the pins attached to one string.

"Professor…"

"This building is **full** of weapons and explosives. The explosion from these will cause a chain reaction throughout the building, destroying it. Taking out the receivers to the bombs and the agents inside who would use them."

"But you'll die." Vengeance said. "Let me do it. I'll be able to survi-"

"I appreciate you trying to save me but…after years of doing nothing but rambling off theories and speculation over what happened in the distant past, this will probably be the only thing I do that matters. So please, don't take this away from me."

"But…"

Petorious raised the wire as they moved closer, signaling them to stop. "This place is about to become a smoldering cinder in a few moments. You need to leave. Now." Seer then opened a portal for the two of them to go through. "And tell Qrow…that those mind controlling rainbow crabs were real." He laughed jokingly (Call back to chapter 17).

They walked through and Seer reluctantly closed the portal behind them just as Firm agents stormed into Sterns' office. They formed a line around the desk with their rifles pointed at Petorious.

"I can at least say that I found the answers I was looking for." He said staring at the string before looking back up at the agents. "For some of us, we're already dead but we continue to shamble through life trying to find a place to belong. And do you know what I learned on my journey?" He said smiling at the confused agents.

"We belong dead." He then pulled the string.

* * *

(Atlesian Carrier Bridge)

Centurious held the Rider in the air by the throat and was about to land the killing blow until his attention was grabbed by the distant explosion he saw through the glass. He instantly knew where the explosion was.

"The headquarters…" The distraction gave the Rider the chance to break free from his grip. "What have you done?!"

"Don't look at us. We've been here the whole time." Qrow said as he got back up from the ground.

Centurious roared in anger. "You will all die before me!"

"Like your wife?" Centurious angrily fired a blast at Qrow.

"She needed you and you failed her. Looks like you sold your soul for nothing." Blake dodged another projectile from Centurious.

Centurious then stumbled back from a hellfire shotgun blast. "One thing I never told you…her soul tasted sweet." The Rider said.

Sent over the edge, Centurious conjured a sigil that fired three blasts simultaneously sending them to the ground.

"You dare?! You dare speak of her?!"

"You aren't powerful enough to stop me. It's why you've never been able to kill me. You're weak." The Rider taunted.

Pushed to his limits, Centurious grabbed the crystal and placed it on the ship's console sending energy through the vessel. The power of the crystal fired through the forward facing lasers and latched on to hundreds of souls throughout the city. Centurious could feel his new power surge through him and relished in it.

"Don't you see? You will never beat me." Centurious said with a smile. "The tales are always of heroes with uncorrupted hearts defeating the monsters. Hearts of darkness cannot defeat another."

"Depends on who you ask? Speaking of which, why don't you ask him?" Qrow said pointing behind Centurious.

Centurious turned to see Mephisto standing there. He raised a hand to combat him but Mephisto waved it away without difficulty.

"How?" Centurious asked dumbfounded.

"You broke the contract. As part of our agreement, you were to never take more than three souls at a time. You, my friend, have absorbed hundreds to gain more power. Ironically enough, I remember that situation being the reason we made the deal in the first place."

Centurious looked to himself then back to the Ghost Rider in horror of the revelation that he had become the very thing he despised.

"No…"

Mephisto put his right hand on Centurious' shoulder. "Time to go home."

"NOOOO!" Centurious looked back at the Rider as he began to fade away. "I failed but the others won't! They have been waiting for you, Rider. They will take this world and they **will** kill you! Do you hear me?! They will kill you!" Centurious shouted as he faded away to Hell.

His helmet and the crystal fell to the ground and released all the souls trapped within it. Mephisto looked up from the fallen pieces at the Rider with contempt. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the contract Johnny had signed years ago.

"I broke the contract. As of today…" The contract burned away. "You're free. But like I said, next time the kid gloves come off. See you around, Johnny." Mephisto then vanished into thin air.

"To quote a friend of mine: that was a thing." Blake said.

"Hearts of darkness…" Qrow said in thought. "You know, that's not bad. We should use that."

The Rider picked up the crystal and stared at it until the ship's console turned red after the alarm sounded. The words across the console displayed WARNING: ENGINE FAILURE. The power went out soon after and the ship began to drop toward the city below. Blake and Qrow stabbed their weapons into the floor to keep from flying into the ceiling while the Rider kept a grip on the console. The people below began screaming and running away from the impending destruction. To keep the ship from crashing the Rider did the one thing he knew would work. The people that couldn't run away in time braced for the inevitable impact but before the ship could crash it burst into flames and stopped in midair. The ship had become changed by the Rider and hovered above the city.

"Holy…You did it!" Qrow said in disbelief.

Blake looked to see Grimm moving in on the city. The negative emotions felt throughout the evening had attracted the monsters like they had during the Fall of Beacon. Qrow and Blake then saw the Rider line up the ship's weapons on the citizens below.

"What are you doing?" Blake asked.

"Getting back to work." The Rider said.

Blake and Qrow charged at the Rider to stop him only to be sent flying across the room. He went back to readying the ship's weapons until he felt something stab through his back and out his chest. He looked down to see a curved blade. When he looked back he saw Qrow holding his weapon that was now a scythe. The Rider grabbed the end of the blade and pushed it out sending Qrow flying into the nearby wall. The Rider was about ready to fire until the crystal in his left hand glowed and he was pulled in.

* * *

(Crystal of Souls)

Zarathos looked around the darkness to find where he had just been taken to. A white light shined behind him so he turned to see what it was and saw Johnny standing there.

"What you were about to do was not part of the deal."

"They are wicked souls."

"As I recall I said the **most** wicked and darkest souls. Not someone who stole pens from the office."

"They all deserve to die one way or another."

"And who the hell are you to decide who dies?"

"Coming from the man who wanted me to kill the worst of humanity. Why that change of heart?"

"I need you but the only way to satisfy your bloodlust was to kill. So, I decided that if you were to kill it would be the most despicable."

"The necessary evil?"

"Something like that."

"Sorry to disappoint you but I won't be able to abide by your terms. Vengeance must wreaked upon all of them."

After a moment of thinking Johnny spoke. "Why did you save them?"

"Excuse me?"

"Ruby and Amber. Why did you save them? You've always been about punishing those who did what you perceived as wrong. Hell, you almost killed Ruby for the same reason, so why **your** change of heart?"

Zarathos didn't say anything but after a few seconds he finally spoke. "Because I saw something I hadn't seen for a long time." He looked at Johnny. "Goodness."

"I don't understand."

"I saw her transgressions and felt rage gazing upon them. But, after she defended me against the false Maiden I decided to look deeper. I saw all the good she had done, the lives she saved, and the people she inspired. I saw something truly special." Johnny was speechless. "Amongst the rest of humanity, she is…a beautiful rose amongst a field of dead flowers."

"And Amber?" Johnny asked after a moment of silence.

"I thought that if I was to revive her then she could be touched by the red haired girl. Who better to guide the former Maiden through her rebirth than her?"

"Maybe you should start looking at everyone through that lens instead. You'll find that everyone can be like that."

Zarathos chuckled. "Johnny Blaze, the man who sees the best in everyone."

"In most people, let's not go that far." Johnny corrected.

"You even see the best in me."

"I'm stuck with you. It's kind of required."

"Perhaps you're right. Time to see the world with a new perspective."

"You serious?"

"Yes. I think I've lived in the shadows of hate enough." They both shook hands. "From now on, I will listen to you, including when to transform. I will not do anything that neither of us can agree to."

"I hear you speaking but it's hard to believe that it's you saying those things."

"It's something for both of us to get used to." They then disappeared in a flash of light.

* * *

(Atlesian Carrier Bridge)

Blake and Qrow got up and prepared for another bout until they saw the Rider turn the weapons from the citizens to the Grimm. Taking all of them out with precision and avoiding another major catastrophe. The Rider shut down the weapons systems and turned to Blake and Qrow who were still a little on edge.

"I'm sorry." Blake and Qrow were now beyond confused.

"What was that?" Qrow asked.

"I'm sorry for fighting you and for the moment of worry." He said pointing to the console.

"This is…surprising." Blake said.

"Not as surprising as this." The hollow eye sockets began to glow. The lights formed two orbs of flame resembling eyes. The clothing turned to normal and no longer had a melted look. The charred skeleton form burned away and appeared as a regular unburned skeleton. He pulled out the black chain and the charred coating dissolved to reveal links of chrome metal. The Ghost Rider, as he once was, was back.

"Whoa." Qrow said. "I'm guessing this change means that you won't try to kill us anymore?" He hoped.

"Yes it does."

"Oh, thank god." Qrow said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"I think we've spent enough time in the air." Blake said.

"I couldn't agree more." The Rider said taking the controls.

* * *

(Vale, Seaside Docks, Early Morning)

" **That** was a crazy two days." Qrow said.

"You said it." Blake said. "I think I've had enough of magic for a life time."

"Try being me." Johnny said.

"No thanks. I've got enough problems as it is."

"Fair enough." Johnny then looked to Qrow. "Hey, Qrow. I'm sorry about Petorious."

"He was an ok guy. He didn't deserve what happened but at least he went on his own terms."

"I guess." Blake said.

"Well, now that all of this is done I suppose you guys are gonna go back to what you were doing before this mess." Johnny said.

"I've got things that need taken care of." Blake said.

"Same. While I would love for the Hearts of Darkness to stick together, I've got a niece and her friends to look out for."

"Hearts of Darkness?" Blake asked.

"I did say we should use it. It's got a nice ring to it."

Blake looked to Johnny. "Just humor him." Blake rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless.

"What'd you end up doing with the carrier?" Qrow asked.

"Well, after dropping you guys off and getting rid of the bombs in the engine room, I disintegrated it over the water. Best not to leave it back in the forest for anyone else to try and do what Centurious did."

"Smart." Badilino said from behind them. They turned to see him standing with Carter, Seer, Wolff, and Sara.

"How are you adjusting to the new power?" Johnny asked.

"It's less painful to use so it's automatically a plus. Thanks." Badilino's smile faded. "I never said I was sorry. For everything. Don't know if I can ever make up for it."

"You helped save the city. In my eyes, you already have."

"Well, my boss wasn't too pleased to hear that the 'Hellfire Killer' evaded capture again but she did change her tune when her lead detective-" He said pointing to himself. "-stopped a plot by a terrorist organization to detonate the carrier flying above the city while the aforementioned 'Hellfire Killer' stopped the madman piloting it."

"She bought the whole organization thing?"

"She had to when I brought in one of the surviving agents from the blast."

"You're kidding." Blake said in disbelief.

"Oh, it gets better. Guess who survived the blast."

* * *

(Vale Police Department Precinct)

"You are facing a **lot** of criminal charges." Agent Uno said. "Terrorism, kidnapping, torture, murder, and that's just the first paragraph. Before we continue, you got anything to say?"

Agent Stern, covered in soot and sporting a swollen left eye from Seer's blast looked at her with a tired expression.

"I want my phone call." Was all he said.

* * *

"Seriously?" Johnny asked. "Well, glad to see someone will pay for their crimes the old fashioned way instead of crumbling to dust."

"Amen to that." Badilino agreed. "Zarathos may be innocent of Rebecca's death but that doesn't absolve him from all the other people he's murdered, guilty or otherwise. He's dangerous to be left unchecked."

"He won't be. You're right, he's done a lot of terrible things but, now that we have a better understanding of each other, that won't be a problem for the innocent or mild criminal."

"And the one's above mild?"

"Would you seriously complain about the occasional serial killer turning up missing?"

"I still don't like it but I guess it's better than nothing. You'll be leaving soon and since your set of wheels got demolished I decided to get you this." He moved out of the way to reveal Johnny's new bike (Remnant equivalent to a Honda Shadow VT1100).

"You're joking." Johnny said in surprise.

"Nope, all yours. Lucky too, that was the last one they had in black."

Johnny got on it to get a feel for it himself. He turned it on and the engine roared loudly bringing a smile to his face. "She's beautiful."

"Of course you're one of those people who calls their ride 'she'." Blake said.

"Don't hate."

"Well, I've got heaps of paperwork to fill out and a suspect to interrogate so this is where we part ways." Badilino said. He went around passing on his goodbyes to everyone and once he was done, held his hand out to Johnny. "Keep on riding, Blaze."

Johnny shook his hand. "Burn bright, Vengeance."

Badilino walked over to his bike and got on. "One thing I gotta ask, what did Centurious mean by 'the others'?"

"I don't know but I'm sure I'll find out pretty soon. Whoever they are, apparently they've been waiting for me."

"Well, if you ever need a hand with them, let me know. It'll be like a superhero team up thing like in the books." He laughed.

"I don't think either of us considers ourselves heroes."

"True. But hey, who knows, maybe us meeting each other again like this was destiny." Johnny chuckled at the thought. "Catch you next time, Rider." Badilino said before driving off.

Wolff chuckled. "Oh, I get it. Because he's a cop…"

"Yeah, I got the joke." Johnny said.

Johnny was about to write off Badilino's comment about destiny until he started to think back about everything that's happened in the last few months.

"Johnny? You ok?" Sara asked.

"When you were hiring people to take down Blackheart did anyone else try to take on the job?"

"Why are you asking?"

"Just answer the question."

She thought for a moment. "No, no one. There were two separate Huntsmen that walked toward me like they were going to take the job but then all of a sudden they would just turn around and walk in the opposite direction."

"So, every Huntsman and Huntress went out of their way to avoid taking a job they knew next to nothing about except for Wolff who then later tracked me down and brought me out of exile to be the Rider again."

Sara looked at him questioningly. "Yeah?"

Johnny turned his attention to Seer. "When we came to you and Wallow brought us through the portal to Anima to be killed later at Styge's church, Ruby and the others just happened to be nearby, especially with Ruby being at the exact location the portal opened." They all started to pay close attention now. "And during your fight with Wallow, you could have used **any** of the hundreds of different demon seals to trap him and send him away, but you decided on using the one that needed angel fire in order to work with no possible way of producing a spark of holy flame. Until Amber, now able to wield angel fire, comes out of the shadows and spares some for the seal, revealing herself and her powers to us."

"So, you're saying that all of this, Blackheart, Ruby, Amber, Centurious and Vengeance were all part of some plan?" Sara asked.

"I think someone's been playing a long game. Someone who's been manipulating our lives and thoughts to…I don't know, prepare us for something maybe."

"How long do ya think they've been doin' that?" Carter asked.

"I don't know. Probably since the Fall of Beacon, maybe longer."

"What do you plan on doing now that you've got an idea of what's going on?" Seer asked.

"Well, like Centurious said, there are others like him out there working together. The Firm was just the beginning, who knows what'll come next."

"Alright then, I guess that means I'm coming with you." Seer said to everyone's surprise.

"What?" Johnny asked.

"Well, sounds like this conspiracy stretches far and wide if it started here, then the bodies Blackheart dropped in Vacuo, and then to Mistral when we were last together. You need to travel between continents, my friend, and it'll be easier if I was to help you out with shortening the distance." She finished snapping her fingers and sparking yellow energy from them.

"You know, I think that's the first time you called me 'friend'." He chuckled.

"But, wait." Wolff said. "What about The Nightclub?"

"Excellent point." She looked to Sara. "Sara, you're in charge while I'm gone."

"Me? Seriously?"

"You've ran your own business before, I'm sure you can manage it." They exchanged smiles before Seer turned her attention to Qrow and Blake. "Right, well, I guess all that's left is getting you two back where you need to be."

"Actually, could you drop me off at Menagerie? I'd like to cut out the rest of the trip and head straight home." Blake said.

"Your home's Menagerie? Isn't that the Faunus island?" Seer asked.

"Yeah…" Blake answered. Seer slowly realized the truth about Blake.

"Oh…well that's cool." Seer said. "What and where even is your Faunus trait?"

"I'll explain later." Johnny said.

"Wait, you knew I was a Faunus? For how long?" Blake quietly said as to not attract the attention of other people.

"Since Beacon. I never knew the exact type of trait but one thing I do know is that normally bows don't twitch." He chuckled. "What trait do you have if I may ask?"

"…Cat ears…" Blake said quietly.

"Aww." Wolff said.

"I will throw you over that pier."

"…I'll shut up now."

Blake looked back at Johnny. "It was good seeing you again."

"You too. Oh, before I forget, pass me your broken blade."

Blake then handed the broken Gambol Shroud over and Johnny aligned the two pieces where they broke off. He closed his hands around the area and an orange glow emanated from within them. When he removed his hands the pieces were rejoined and the orange glowing heat within the metal died down before he handed it back to her.

"Good as new."

She inspected it before placing it in its sheath. "Thank you."

* * *

(Elsewhere in Sanus)

A portal opened and Blake walked through to the other side expecting to be in Menagerie but found herself back at the motel she was staying at before everything with Centurious.

She turned back to the portal. "Wait! This isn't-" The portal closed. "…Menagerie." She sighed.

The noise she made happened to draw the attention of someone who was resting in one of the nearby trees.

"Huh." Sun said as he watched Blake stomp off toward the motel. "I guess that portal lady made good on her promise after all." He said with a smile before making his way to follow.

* * *

"I thought she told you to take her to Menagerie." Johnny said.

"She did, but I owe this guy a favor so…"

"Something I should be worried about?"

"Not at all, he's just looking out for her. It's kinda cute."

"And I've got a six-pack abs guess as to who that could be."

"Now that she's back where she needs to be that means I'm up next." Qrow said.

"Yep." Johnny then shook Qrow's hand. "Thank you for sticking around to help, I really do appreciate it."

"Sure thing. I mean, I almost died over a dozen times but it was one hell of a ride nonetheless."

"If at any point you stop hiding from them, tell them I said hi."

"I'll keep that in mind." Qrow smiled.

* * *

(Anima)

Amber watched Ruby and the others from a distance, keeping them safe. She was shaken from her focus when a portal opened up behind her and out stepped Qrow.

"Miss me?" Qrow said before getting punched in the chest.

"Where the hell were you?! You've been gone for two days!"

"So, no 'welcome back hug'? Not even a high five?"

"Oh, I'll give you a high five." She said before bringing her open hand down on his face.

Ren heard a slapping noise and looked around to try and find the sound's origin. After not hearing anything for a few moments he went back to tending to the fire while the others set up camp.

* * *

(Caretaker's Shack)

Carter walked out of the shack with a bag of Johnny's things and handed it over to him. "That's the last of it. I even threw in a razor to cut that scruff of your face."

"Oh, ha ha." Johnny said sarcastically. "I'm just glad to see Banshee so happy to be home." He said looking at the ecstatic horse.

"It's a wonderful sight. Anyway, I locked up the crystal in a special box in the collection. No one's gettin' near that thing unless I say so."

Seer walked up and pulled Carter into a tight hug. "I'm glad you're ok."

"Back at ya." They then separated.

Johnny shook his hand. "Take care of yourself."

"You too." Carter said before heading over to tend to Banshee.

"So, what's the play? We go around looking for whoever was involved with Centurious?"

"Yeah. But I don't think it should be just the two of us. Whatever's happening seems bigger than you and me, **and** the Hearts of Darkness."

"Hearts of Darkness?"

"Qrow used it to describe me, him, and Blake. Look, it sounded cool and it just stuck, ok?"

"Alright, alright. So who should we talk to about working to stop what's coming."

"I don't have a finished list yet but I've already got potential candidates."

"Sounds like you're forming a team."

"I guess I am." Johnny smiled at her. "Interested?"

"I'm already here, ain't I?"

"Great. I'll let you pick where we go next." Johnny said as he mounted his bike while Seer sat herself behind him.

Seer opened a portal in front of them. "Do you think whoever or whatever's been manipulating all of this is done with us?"

"No." Johnny said. "And I doubt we're the last ones to be toyed with." He then drove them through the portal toward their next adventure.

* * *

(Island of Patch, Xiao Long-Rose Family Home, Night)

Yang sat in her room staring out the window towards the night sky waiting for her father to come back. She had waited for hours for him but received no calls as to when he'd be back. She was starting to worry about where he could be until the front door opened.

"I'm home!" He shouted before heading upstairs to check on her. "Hey, would've been home sooner but they needed help back at the school and then my scroll ran out of battery and…" He sighed, stopping himself. "I'm rambling. Sorry if I made you worry."

"It's ok. Just glad you're home." She said in her now usual downtrodden manner.

"Yeah." He said in a similar tone from observing her demeanor. "Oh! I almost forgot. This was in the mailbox which is weird considering the mail was supposed to have been taken in hours ago." He said holding a small box.

Yang awkwardly chuckled. "Whoops?" She grabbed it and inspected it. "Who's it from?"

"No idea. No return address, no stamps, nothing. The only thing on it was our address and your name. It seemed weird and that's why I decided to open it to make sure it was safe."

"Seriously? You went through my mail?"

"It was a weird unmarked package addressed to my daughter of course I opened it! We've got enough weird things going on as it is."

"Ok then, what's in it?"

"Look for yourself."

She opened the box and slid the item inside onto her lap. She picked it up and saw that it was a cracked orange rectangular gem with a skeletal figure inside with its arms to its chest.

"This looks…cheery."

"I thought the same thing. It's definitely weird but I don't think it'll cause any harm. The only thing that may cause harm is the person who sent it, whoever they are." He watched her looking at the gem and stayed silent for a moment. "Well, I should probably eat something before going to bed. You need anything?"

Yang set the gem on the nightstand next to her bed. "No, I'm good. Thanks, dad."

He kissed the top of her head. "You're welcome, kiddo."

Yang turned off the light and got into bed. She wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead, feeling hot all of a sudden but thought nothing of it. Not realizing that the orange gem was now transparent and the figure inside was missing.

* * *

(A Few Hours Later)

Yang woke up in a sweat feeling a burning sensation all over. She then heard the sound of Bumblebee's engine and moved to the window to investigate. She saw an orange glow coming from inside the shed. Thinking there was a fire she ran downstairs to the shed to make sure. She opened the door to see Bumblebee engulfed in flames.

"Oh, my god!" She grabbed a nearby rag and tried to put out the flames. "Dad!"

She kept trying to put out the flames but stopped after her left sleeve caught fire. She waved her arm around to try and put out the flames to no avail and so she decided to use her right arm to try to put the fire out.

 _"_ _Right arm?"_ She thought.

She looked to where her right arm shouldn't be and was shocked by what she saw. A skeletal forearm engulfed in flames. She then realized that the fire didn't hurt her nor did it damage the bike. She looked at her hands with her usual red eyes, but now with burning orange pupils , and as the skin from her left hand burned away she could only ask herself one question.

"What the hell's happening to me?"

* * *

(Hell)

Centurious found himself writhing on the ground in agony in his own personal hell. With his contract now void he could feel the full range of his emotions again and was forced to watch the death of his princess over and over again. He felt that this was his unique punishment for doing the same to the countless souls he absorbed into the crystal over the centuries.

Just as the memory reset he heard a familiar voice. "Oh, poor baby. It seems like you need my help."

He watched as a woman walked through the memory, dissipating it. His suspicions as to who it was were confirmed when she knelt down in front of him.

"Lilith…"

"I told you that going off on your own to kill the Ghost Rider would backfire. Although, I didn't think the backlash was going to be this bad."

"Help…me…"

"Relax, that's why I'm here. I'm here to get you out and I'll even give you back your old powers…for a price."

Centurious looked at her with concern. He knew that the only price worth anything was souls and that she was asking for his. He looked at the memory reforming and, not wanting to see it again, made his decision.

"I'll pay it."

She smiled. "Then we have a deal."

* * *

And that's that! Lilith has finally arrived after being foreshadowed back in chapter 9 and now that she's here, her plans will change the story of RWBY quite a bit and you'll see how that unfolds when the next arc begins.

Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze), Ghost Rider (Yang Xiao Long), Vengeance (Michael Badilino), Ruby Rose, Seer, Ambrose (Amber), and Sun Wukong will return as **The Midnight Sons**.


	20. Midnight Sons: According to Plan

For anyone who was curious about when the main RWBY characters would show up again, spoiler alert, it's going to be during this arc! You're gonna start seeing some very familiar names returning for this massive threat that is Lilith and the Darkhold.

 **Comic book characters introduced: Victoria Montesi** and **Nash Lavato**.

 **Comic book characters mentioned: Louise Hastings**

Also, the Sam that's mentioned in this chapter is the same Sam Buchanan mentioned back in chapter 10.

As always, thank you for the reviews, favs, and follows everyone! Enjoy.

* * *

(Anima, Four Weeks after Centurious' Attack on Vale)

Ruby, Pyrrha, Jaune, Ren, and Nora were walking down the path away from a village they helped dispose of a Geist as well as get new armor for Jaune. After frustrating themselves over the placement of their map they walked in silence. Jaune and Pyrrha walked together and she could tell he wanted to say something but struggled to speak up. It wasn't until they were at the back of the group did he finally manage to speak.

"You didn't have to do that, you know."

"Do what?"

"Give me your old armor to upgrade mine."

Pyrrha smiled. "No, I suppose I didn't. But I wanted to anyway. I wasn't using it and I thought that helping you would be a better use for it."

"Yeah, but…" He looked at her smiling face and relented. "Thank you. You could've kept this though." He raised his shield to show the image of her headpiece below the shield's crest.

"Like I said, I didn't need it anymore." She said twirling a strand of hair. "Why? Miss it?" A teasing smile formed across her face.

He blushed. "Well, I...um…I think you look…nice with or without it on. Your headpiece I mean. I…" Jaune sighed. "I'm gonna stop."

She giggled then held his hand. "You're fine."

They kept walking while Ruby tried to make sense of the recently rediscovered map. As the group walked on they didn't notice Qrow watching from afar.

"Jeez, hormones are not kind to that kid's confidence." Qrow said.

"But, he does clean up nice though." Amber said with a mouth full of berries.

"Chew your food."

"I don't tell you how to live your life." She said in a slightly agitated tone.

"No, but you do react negatively to it." Qrow rubbed his cheek. "It's been four weeks and I can still feel the slap."

"Serves you right for vanishing like that and not using your teleporting friend to at least pass on the message that you weren't dead."

"Well, you got me there."

"Where do you think her and the other guy are now?"

"I don't know. But, after getting to know them I'm sure they're dealing with some kind of mystical monster threatening the world or something like that."

* * *

(Somewhere Else in Anima)

Seer had her boot on a bandit's chest and stared angrily at him while Johnny was loudly snoring on the nearby bench outside the fueling station they were at.

"I know you took my wallet!" She shouted.

"Please! I didn't take anything!"

"Don't lie to me or I swear to whatever deity you pray to I will send you to a hungry Beowolf pack right now. Or better yet, I'll let my friend over there have some play time with you." She pointed to Johnny who only kept on snoring. "Well…when he wakes up and finds a decent shadow to step in you'll be sorry then."

The bandit looked at her confused. "I…I don't…"

Seer sighed, opened a portal, and put his head through it. He began screaming when he saw a Beowolf pack jumping up at the portal above them trying to get him.

"Ok, ok, ok! It's in my back pocket!"

She found the wallet, pulled him back through, and closed the portal. After letting him go he ran off terrified. She walked over to Johnny and kicked him awake while going through the contents of her wallet.

"Did I miss something?" He said groggily.

"Nothing much. There was a dumb bird making a lot of noise but I handled it."

"Poor bird." He said rubbing his eye. "Did you get a new outfit?"

Seer wore a blue top with black on the sides, no sleeves, and a collar that covered the neck. She had black bandages wrapped around her wrists, blue arm bands, blue pants with black stripes at the sides going down the leg, and black combat boots.

"Yep, got it while you were dozing off. We're out here trying to unravel a conspiracy and I wasn't going to keep doing it in jean shorts."

"Sound argument." Johnny got up and stretched. "I should also remind you that I dozed off **because** I was waiting for you."

She shrugged. "Eh, at least you got some sleep."

"Anyway, I think we've burned out all our leads out here. We've searched the Firm's bases all over the world for weeks and we still don't know who's coming after us, what their plans are, or if they or someone else is responsible for manipulating everything." Johnny let out a frustrated sigh.

"We'll figure it out. You just need to give it time and everything will be revealed."

"Here's hoping." Johnny crossed his fingers.

They started walking over to Johnny's bike. "Zarathos giving you trouble?" Seer asked.

"No, surprisingly. I guess he's really committing to the whole 'partners' thing. I gotta say it's definitely welcomed." They mounted the bike and Seer opened a portal to Vacuo in front of them.

"Hear, hear." She said. "Onward, mighty steed!" She said, pointing toward the portal.

"At least you think I'm mighty. Ow!" She flicked his ear. "Fine." He then let out a neighing sound and drove through the portal while Seer laughed.

* * *

(Vale Police Department Precinct, Evidence Room)

"Hey, Mike. Returning evidence?" The officer said.

"Yep, nothing more I can get off this thing." Badilino said, handing Centurious' helmet to the officer.

"Shame. Makes for good decoration though."

"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not look at that thing again." Badilino said as he signed out.

"Got a problem with it?"

"I got a problem with the guy who was in it."

"Ah, well, at least that Strider guy got rid of him before he could blow up the city."

"Rider." Badilino corrected.

"Either way, thanks to him and his friends, this guy…" The officer waved the helmet in front of them. "…is dead. So, luckily for you, I don't think we'll be seeing that guy again."

They then heard shouting and gun fire. After drawing their guns they ran to the source of the commotion. The officers that weren't being flown through the air were shooting at the assailant hoping to stop the rampage. One officer got in close only to be thrown through the door that Badilino and the other officer came through. Badilino fired off a few shots before being hit with an energy blast and sent flying all the way back to the evidence room. He struggled to get back up and couldn't get up off the floor. He then grabbed his gun until a red boot stepped on his hand stopping him from using it. He looked up at the assailant and saw a familiar face.

"Hello again, detective."

"Centurious?"

"Yes, and I have come to take back what is mine." Centurious then kicked him in the face and walked into the evidence room for his helmet. He picked up and stared at it. "Now that I am complete I can resume my search for the Darkhold pages."

"Freeze!" Centurious looked to see the officer Badilino was with earlier. "Don't move or I swear I'll drop you!"

Centurious raised his hands and smiled. "You know, it's funny…" He fired a blast at the officer, killing him. "…I was going to say something similar." He put on his helmet and vanished.

Badilino watched as he vanished, too hurt to move or do anything to help his friend. He tried his best to stay conscious but couldn't keep his eyes open.

* * *

(One Hour Later)

Badilino woke up in a chair while Kowalski bandaged up his head. "Welcome back." Kowalski said.

Badilino looked around to see the precinct in shambles and officers having their injuries tended to while others were being taken out on stretchers.

"Where is he?" Badilino asked.

"The perp got away after ripping through this place like a knife through butter. There are six with broken bones, four in critical condition, and three dead." Badilino put his face in his hands. "You were the last one to see him. Did you get a look at him?"

Badilino looked up. "Yeah, Centurious."

"The helmet guy? But, he's dead."

"Not anymore. If you need further proof I'm sure the only thing missing from evidence is his damn helmet." Badilino then stood.

"Take it easy. You might have a concussion."

"I'll be fine. Look after the other guys, alright?"

As soon as Kowalski left, Badilino took out a piece of paper from his pocket. He went to a secluded area and looked over the incantation scribbled on it.

"Ok, Seer, this little mantra thing of yours better work." He began reciting what was on the paper. " _Ad unum video in corde meo_ _,_ _s_ _i ego voco ad respondendum in genere_." (To the one I see within my mind, I call to see if you will answer in kind).

In front of him appeared a ring of yellow energy with an image of somewhere else slowly appearing in the middle.

* * *

(Vacuo Tavern)

Seer drank out of her cup when a yellow ring appeared in front of her. She grabbed it before it could attract attention, but the slapping sound from her hands when she grabbed it attracted the attention of the other patrons. She awkwardly smiled at them before walking out to the side of the building where no one could see her and let go of the ring to float up in front of her. When the image inside slowly became visible, she spoke.

"Michael, I wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon. What's up?"

"Centurious just ripped through the police station, killed three officers, took his helmet, and left."

Seer took a moment to process. "…Centurious is alive?"

"Yeah. And he said something before he left. Something about 'Darkhold pages'." Seer went wide eyed. "I can't make sense of it. Do you have any idea what he was talking about?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Can you take some time off?"

"Uh, no, not after what just happened. Why?"

"We're going to need your help with this. Things just got a whole lot worse."

"I'll call again if anything develops over on my end and maybe link up with you guys when I can."

"Ok. Talk to you later." The ring faded and Seer brought a hand to her head in worry. She looked up to see Johnny walking toward the tavern and caught up to him.

"Hey-"

"Centurious is back." Seer interrupted.

"Wait, what?"

"Michael contacted me, said Centurious raided the police station, and is looking for the Darkhold pages."

"The Darkhold…I mean I had a feeling that whatever Centurious and his friends were planning was bad but this…this is end of the world type stuff."

"All the more reason to put that team of yours together. We're gonna need all the help we can get."

"I'm definitely glad I made that list." They moved to Johnny's bike. "But before we go recruiting, there's one person we need to see."

"And I can already guess who it is."

* * *

(Kingdom of Mistral, Kuchinashi. A Few Moments Later)

After Seer teleported them both to a house Johnny knocked on the door. The door opened and they were greeted by a young woman with short brown hair.

"Can I help you?" The woman asked.

"Uh, yeah. My name is Johnny and this is Seer. We're here to see Victoria Montesi. Is she here?"

"Yes, I am." They heard from behind the woman at the door. The black haired woman walked over and stood next to the woman at the door. "Been a long time. It's good to see you both."

"Hey, Victoria." Seer said with a smile.

"I see you two met Nash." Victoria said, directing to the woman who greeted them.

"Nash Lavato." She said shaking their hands. "Nice to meet you. She says good things about you."

"That's nice. Can we come in?" Johnny asked.

"Yes, of course, come on in." They all entered the house. "We're just about to have dinner so you stopped by at the right time." Nash walked into the kitchen to finish cooking.

"She's nice. Roommate?" Johnny asked.

"Girlfriend." Victoria corrected.

Johnny looked into the kitchen then back to Victoria. "Really? You lucked out." He said with a smile.

Victoria giggled. "I know. She's nice, she's gorgeous, she works with me in the clinic, and her cooking is to die for."

"I'm happy for you." Seer said. "Obviously she knows about us. Does she know about, you know?"

"That you're a clairvoyant sorceress and he's the Spirit of Vengeance?" Nash said while bringing the food to the table. "That would be a yes. Hope you like meatballs." She smiled.

"Oh god, yes!" Johnny said.

They all sat down around the table and ate. "So, you mentioned working at a clinic. I take it you finally became a physician." Seer said.

"Yep. I set up the clinic about a year ago to help out around here and things have been going great ever since." Victoria saw the worried look on Johnny's face. "And something tells me the same can't be said for you. What's going on? Why are you here?"

"You ever heard of Centurious?" Johnny asked.

"Only by reputation."

"Well, a few weeks ago, he tried to destroy Vale in a plot to kill me. I got Mephisto to take him to Hell, but he's somehow made it out of there and he and his friends are looking for the Darkhold pages."

Victoria stayed silent for a moment. "I'll use my power to let you know if a page is being used but I don't think I can help you beyond that." She looked up at them. "Louise is dead, Sam is god knows where, and I have a life now. The Darkhold Redeemers are done."

"And we didn't come here to force you to do anything you don't want to do." Seer was quick to say. "But we need all the help we can get."

Nash took hold of Victoria's hand. "Could you two give us a minute?" Johnny and Seer complied and gave them the room.

"Sounds like they really need you."

"And I want to help them but I've got the clinic, the house, you. I can't…"

"You remember why you started the clinic?"

Victoria gave her a puzzled look. "…To help people."

"Well, it may not be medical trouble but you **are** needed. And, if what you told me about the Darkhold is true, there may not be a home or clinic for you to come home to if anyone bad gets their hands on it." Victoria knew she was right. "I'll look after everything while you're away so you won't have to worry about anything."

"How can you be so ok with this?"

"Honestly, I'm not. But if you don't help them everything we know and love is going to end. It's putting what's needed above what I want." Nash said somberly.

Victoria lightly squeezed her hand. "I don't know what to say."

"Then don't say anything. Just save the world."

Victoria nodded, kissed her, and walked over to Johnny and Seer. "Alright, I'll help you. But, I need you to keep Nash safe."

"Of course, and I can teleport you home whenever you need me to." Seer said.

"Really?" Victoria looked back at Nash. "Hon', big favor, are you opposed to our house being where we operate from?"

"Just as long as they don't mind my cooking or break any of our stuff." Nash said.

"You're amazing!" Johnny said.

"Ok." Victoria said. "I'm also going to need people if I'm going to reform the Darkhold Redeemers."

Johnny pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to her. "I figured you'd say that."

Victoria looked over the list. "There are seven names on here. Including me, that would make the total number eight. You sure I can handle a team that big?"

"I'm going to be handling a large team soon so we're in the same boat."

"That's **if** they say yes." Seer said.

"Wait, you're going to lead a team? Won't that be difficult with the 'other guy' trying to kill them?"

"I've got a handle on that now." Victoria looked confused. "It's a recent thing."

Victoria looked to Seer who only shrugged. "Ok, well I guess all that's left now is recruiting."

"We already got a head start. Our newest acquaintance Michael, otherwise known as Vengeance, has already volunteered. Well, as soon as he gets time off." Seer said.

Johnny pulled out his list and looked over the names. "Right, well I guess that makes our friend Ruby next on the list."

Seer looked over the names and dragged her finger down the page. When she reached Ruby's name she began to have a vision. When it was over Johnny quickly questioned her.

"What is it?"

"Actually, we should pay a visit to her sister first."

"Yang? Why?"

"Trust me. There's been a 'development' with her that you're gonna want to know about."

* * *

(Unknown Location, One Hour Later)

Centurious looked over his helmet, wiping away the fingerprints from the officers who handled it. He sensed a figure materialize behind him so he put on his helmet and turned to greet them.

"It's done." Lilith said. "The Rider and the clairvoyant are recruiting their warriors. You played your part well."

"I am pleased to see my mentioning of the Darkhold in the detective's presence has brought about the result we wanted."

"Yes." Lilith smiled. "Everything's going according to plan."


	21. Midnight Sons: Two Down, More to Go

Hello, everyone! We hope that you all had a pleasant holiday season. But now that they're over, we're back with a new chapter! As always, thank you for the favs, follows, and reviews.

 **Comic book characters mentioned: Pastor Destin Kale, Dante Kale,** **Magdelena,** and **the Furies**.

* * *

(Island of Patch, Xiao Long-Rose Family Home)

Yang had woken up in the night from another nightmare. While trying to calm her mind her attention was drawn to the sound of laughter coming from downstairs. She went down and joined in on the conversations of her father and the two visiting teachers Port and Oobleck. They soon found themselves discussing Yang's fears and giving their advice about said topic.

"Fear is like any other emotion, it comes and goes. It's all in how you handle it." Port said. "Why, even I find myself wrestling with that emotion from time to time."

"Really? You?" Yang said in minor disbelief.

Oobleck leaned over to whisper. "He's afraid of mice."

"They bring only disease and famine!" Port said slamming his fist against the table. "And don't even get me started on their tails! So hairless, simply unnatural." He finished with Yang snickering all the while.

"Port, I assure you, you're safe." Oobleck said. "There's no mice here right now."

"I'd take his word for it." They all turned their attention to the doorway leading into the living room to see someone that most of them never expected to see again. "He's a professor after all."

"Mr. Blaze?" Port asked in disbelief.

"Doctor." Oobleck quietly corrected.

"Dear boy, where have you been?! You were among the missing, we feared you were no longer with us."

"Surpriiiise." Johnny said with an awkward smile. "I kinda had a few things to sort out. But, I'm back, and I bring gifts. For you, Pete." Johnny tossed a gray plush toy on the table in front of Port. A toy mouse.

"AAAHHH!" Port screamed and fell out of his chair causing everyone to laugh.

"Oh, that is priceless." Johnny said wiping away a tear. "Man, it's good to see you guys. And to meet you finally. Johnny Blaze." He said shaking Taiyang's hand.

"Taiyang Xiao Long. My daughters talked about you sometimes whenever they wrote home."

"Daaad!" Yang exclaimed in embarrassment.

"Nothing too embarrassing I hope." Johnny smiled.

"Nah, they were just happy to make a new friend."

"Anyway! Johnny! Good to see you, you here for something?" Yang interrupted.

"Yeah, actually. Can we talk?"

The two of them went into the living room with Yang sitting on the couch and Johnny in the chair next to it.

"How are you adjusting?" Johnny asked looking at her missing arm.

Yang looked at it somberly. "I'm… **still** adjusting."

"Best not to rush anything. Still, makes you look distinguished. Says 'Yang Xiao Long, seasoned Huntress.' Now that sounds cool."

She smiled. "I guess scars **do** make me look more distinguished. More rugged and handsome." She winked.

"Oof, very handsome." He laughed.

Her smile became a little more somber. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"Not treating me like glass. Like I'll break if you say the wrong thing."

"Yeah, well, I figured that was the last thing you needed. Besides, you're made of stronger stuff than glass." He said, earning a chuckle from her. "In all seriousness, I'm **very** glad that you're ok."

"But I'm not."

"You're alive. And that's more than we can say about the friends we lost…even after the tower fell." He looked down sadly.

"Something happened to you while you were away, didn't it?"

"A lot happened. Which is kind of why I'm here."

"I thought you just came to check in on me."

"I did, but it wasn't for that." He said looking at Yang's arm, earning a confused look from her. "Yang, have you been having nightmares?"

"Why?"

"Please, just answer the question."

She took a moment before answering. "Um, yeah, I-I've…I've been dreaming about that night. And about Adam." She looked to her arm when she finished.

"Anything else? Anything new?"

"Just…fire…and sometimes there are monsters. But, they weren't Grimm, they were like-"

"Demons." Johnny interrupted.

"I guess."

"One more question. Have you…been on fire? Fire that burns but doesn't hurt?"

"How did you…" She looked at him and finally spoke after a moment. "I got a package a few weeks ago. No name, no return address, and it was addressed to me. Inside was this orange crystal thing with a little skeleton inside. Later in the night my bike caught fire and I went to put it out but the flames didn't damage it. Then my left arm got caught on fire and I used my other arm to put it out."

"Your other arm?"

"Exactly. Once I realized, I looked and…" Yang took a breath. "My arm was there again but it was on fire and I could see the bones. And then the flames just spread everywhere else. I was scared and I didn't know if I would set fire to the house so I ran. I ran and ran, and when I finally stopped I was near a puddle. I looked to see my reflection and…" She stopped.

"And what?"

"I looked just like him."

"Him?"

"The guy from the news. The Ghost Rider. My skull was on fire and everything, Johnny. I…I don't know what's going on."

"Yang, this gem, did the skeleton inside have its arms folded over its chest?"

"Yeah. You know what it is?"

"I do. I had this friend called Danny and he went through the same thing you're going through right now. One day, he decided that he didn't want that anymore and got himself a very special exorcism. The people who did it placed that spirit inside a blessed gemstone and buried it somewhere secret in the desert. Looks like someone found him."

"Who?"

"I don't know. Whoever it is, they've been setting up a lot of things for something. I guess he's a part of it." Johnny pointed to her chest to the spirit inside.

"But…what is he?"

"He was once a man named Noble Kale and he lived in a time before the Great War. He and his younger brother Dante lived with his abusive father, Destin Kale. A despicable man who had no right to be a pastor. One day, the Quentin Carnival came to their town and Noble fell in love with one of the women who travelled with them. Her name was Magdelena. They hid their love from his father because he would think that lust was driving them and that their relationship would damn their souls or some crap, I don't really remember."

"That's helpful." Yang said sarcastically.

"Continuing…" Johnny said in an annoyed tone. "Eventually, Magdelena became pregnant and Noble thought that his father would finally accept their love with his grandchild about to be born."

"I take it that didn't happen."

Johnny shook his head. "He whipped his own son for his 'sins' and worked him near to death for the next nine months. Magdelena fought back, of course, but knowing that her beloved's life was at stake she played along. Sometime after her son was born, the pastor wed them both for pureness sake or something. She then discovered that Noble's father had made deals with the devil, Mephisto, to keep the town safe from the Grimm and prosperous with green lands and flowing rivers. The pastor found out about her discovery and labeled her a witch. The entire town burned her at the stake. And that horrible, disgusting man made his own son watch helplessly as his wife…" He struggled to finish. "The act didn't go unnoticed. The Furies, the goddesses of retribution, came down upon the town and killed some of the people responsible."

"Some? Not all?"

"No. You see, in his moment of desperation, the pastor tried to bargain with them. He even offered Dante as their servant to spare the town. Once they realized Dante was his blood they cut him down. A little boy…and they went right back to killing everyone else. Destin had one last idea: offer the soul of his grandson to Mephisto for protection. Mephisto came but before he could accept, Kale stood up. Bloodied and exhausted he offered his soul to exact vengeance upon the people who took his loved ones away. And the devil accepted. Mephisto disappeared and Kale fell dead. You see, Kale wasn't human anymore so he couldn't be alive. He became the Spirit of Vengeance. He destroyed everything and everyone but left his father for last. He took his son from the arms of the man who caused him so much pain and burned him with the flames of Hell he feared so much. He left his son with a family who would love and take care of him, buried what was left of his wife, and went with Mephisto to Hell to honor his end of the deal. And that's the story of the spirit that lives within you." Yang couldn't speak. The story had left her speechless with shock and sadness. "Take your time. I know it's a lot to take in."

"No kidding." She said. "How do you know about all this? About him and how you even knew about what was happening to me?"

"Show me your arm." He said. She looked confused and brought up her left arm. "No, your **other** arm."

She looked to the kitchen to see that the other three adults were focused on their own conversation and not looking into the living room. She raised right arm and the flames began to form with the bones forming within a moment after. Johnny removed the glove from his right hand and summoned flames through it. Yang looked at his hand in shock and then back at him.

"I know about Kale because a magical old man told me all about him, I know about you because I'm friends with a clairvoyant sorceress who had a vision of your transformation, and I know what you're going through because I'm the Ghost Rider."

The expression on Yang's face was pure shock. She lost concentration on her arm and it dissipated. Johnny put his glove back on and he let there be a moment of silence so Yang could comprehend everything he had just told her.

He took a breath before speaking. "I'm also here to ask you for help. People are looking for the scattered pages of this dark ancient spell book called the Darkhold and if they get their hands on it, it could mean the end of everything we know. I'm putting a team together and I came to ask if you wanted to be part of it. Usually I wouldn't ask in your time of healing but I am **very** desperate and I need all the help I can get. I don't expect you to give me an answer right now so, if you need time to think about it, I'll give you time."

"Um…I-I don't…I'm still trying to…" She looked at her arm. "Even if I said yes I don't think I'm ready to get back out there."

"That's fine. But, if your answer does end up as yes in the future…" Johnny stood up and placed a piece of paper on the table. "That's how you'll be able to reach me."

Yang picked up the bit of paper and saw the same spell that was given to Badilino to contact Seer.

"Couldn't I just call you?"

"Well, after Beacon went down, I don't have a scroll anymore."

"Right." Yang put the paper in her pocket.

"I wish I could stay longer but I've got some things that need my attention."

Yang stood up. "Right. 'End of the world' stuff."

"Yeah." He walked to the door but stopped halfway and turned to her. "Yang, you don't have to join if you don't want to. It's an invitation not a draft."

"I know."

"If you have any questions don't be afraid to ask Kale. He's a little unhinged but he's considerate."

"Sounds great." She said a little unenthusiastically. "Thanks for stopping by, Johnny."

Johnny nodded with a smile but it quickly fades when he saw the image of Roxanne instead of Yang. He closed his eyes and looked back to see only Yang standing there.

"You ok?" She asked.

"Yeah." He lied. "Just tired."

"I know the feeling. Stay safe."

"No promises." He said before walking out the door.

He pulled out the list of recruits from his pocket and looked at the newest name added to the list and wrote next to it with his pencil.

 **Yang Xiao Long Membership: Pending**

* * *

(Higanbana Inn)

"If you don't know where the Relic is, then we have nothing left to talk about." Raven said to her brother as she grabbed her helmet.

Qrow quickly grabbed it. "I don't know where the Spring Maiden is either. But if you do, I need you to tell me."

"And why would I do that?" She yanked her helmet from him as she finished.

"Because without her, we're all going to die."

After a moment of silence Raven chuckled. "And which 'we' are you referring to?"

She put on her helmet as she turned and walked away. She opened a portal but before she could step into it, Johnny walked through it from the other side.

"Hello." Johnny said enthusiastically as he walked past her and over to Qrow.

"Blaze?"

"Hey, Qrow. Nice to see-" Their attention was turned to the sound glass shattering and saw that it came from the startled waitress.

After looking between Johnny and his sister he looked to the waitress showing his glass.

"Better make this one a double."

Johnny waved awkwardly at the waitress before she quickly left. "She seems nice."

"How did you do that?" Raven asked.

"I've got a friend who knows a thing or two about portals." Johnny said, pointing behind him.

Raven looked over the banister and noticed a lady with a tattoo over her left eye at the bar next to Amber waving at her.

"I'd say it's a pleasure but I just got through one headache and I'm not looking to add to it." Qrow said.

"You're still charming as ever." Johnny said sarcastically. "Bottom line: Centurious is back and he and his buddies are looking for the pages of a dark spell book called the Darkhold. It'll allow them to shape the world how they want it and if you remember Centurious's 'hospitable nature' then you know what that means for everyone else."

"I'm sorry, a spell book? What are you involved with, Qrow?" Raven asked.

Qrow sighed. "Stuff I thought I was done with."

"Yeah, well, the guy that was impossible for us to kill is back from Hell and tore through a Vale police station just for his helmet. I'd hate to think what he'd do looking for the Darkhold pages."

"Hell? As in **actual** Hell?" Raven asked, receiving a nod from Johnny. "I think I might need a drink."

"Well, luckily you're already in a tavern."

Raven looked at him before turning to Qrow. "And who is this?"

"Standing right here." Johnny said under his breath.

"He's Johnny Blaze. He was a circus act, then janitor, now demon hunter or whatever." Qrow then slid his drink over to his sister. "So, did our old friend let him loose?"

"Who's your 'old friend'?" Raven asked, drink in hand.

"The devil." They said in unison and Raven paused for a moment to realize what they said. The moment passed when she decided to down the rest of the drink in one go.

"I'm gonna need more of these."

"While you do that…" Johnny said before turning to Qrow. "I'm putting a team together."

"Look, the Hearts of Darkness was a one-time thing for me. And I've got my own end of the world crisis going on."

"I know. I came here to tell you that I'm considering Ruby for the team." Qrow was silent. "And I think you, Jaune, and the others should continue the fight against...whoever it is you're fighting."

"You wanna drag my niece into one of your wars? One of which cost the lives of Vale citizens, the life of my former colleague, and almost cost us our own when we tried to fight Centurious." There was a moment of silence. "And you want my family to fight him and whatever else lurks in the shadows? I got a glimpse into your world and let me tell you something, it may have similarities but it is far worse than mine. So, no. She's not going."

"Should probably tell you that I asked Yang too." Both siblings shifted slightly.

"She doesn't even have an arm."

"Some things have changed while you were away."

"I don't give a damn, my nieces are not going to be part of your war."

"But they have to be part of yours?" Qrow's fist clenched and Johnny soon sighed at the sight of it. "Look, there's going to be more than three of us this time round **and** there's going to be a whole other team helping us out."

"Who's going to be on this team you like to talk about?" Qrow asked irritatedly.

"Me, Seer, Badilino-"

"The hellfire powered cop that tried to kill you?"

"Where's the waitress with that double?" Raven asked herself, not coping well with all the information.

"Yeah…and we were also thinking maybe…Amber?"

Qrow's expression didn't waver. "Let me guess, you want to recruit my sister as well?"

"Oh, god no! She's frickin' crazy."

"Well, he's nice." Raven said sarcastically to her brother.

"I've heard all kinds of stories about you from my time here in Anima. You're lucky I'm feeling nice right now." His eyes glowed orange then quickly faded.

"Easy." Qrow said. He massaged his temples before looking up to speak. "If I agree to this, you're in charge of keeping them safe. No one else, if they get hurt or…worse, you answer to me."

"Deal." They shook hands. "I'll be back to ask Ruby in a little while. Still don't know what's in store so I don't want to rush into anything."

"If that's how you feel then why'd you ask Yang?"

"She needed to know about a few things." He pointed to his chest and Qrow understood that as Zarathos.

"Gotcha."

"It was good seeing you." Johnny looked over to Raven. "Pleasure meeting you."

"Was it?"

"You should hope so." His eyes glowed in the direction of the ice cubes in the glass in front of her and they quickly melted.

They both exchanged looks before he turned and walked away toward the stairs. When Qrow turned to look at his sister he saw that she was gone. Qrow let out a relaxing sigh and looked at the glass now filled with warm water.

"She had a point." He said to himself. "Where is that waitress?"

Johnny walked up to Seer and Amber at the bar and sat at one of the stools next to them.

"Meeting go well?" Seer asked.

"Better than expected actually."

"That's good."

Johnny looked over to Amber. "Amber."

"Flame head." She responded.

"Let's just stick with Johnny." He reached his hand out which she shook.

"Before you ask, yes, I'd like to join the team."

Johnny looked at Seer in shocked confusion. "I filled her in on what was going on while you were chatting up 'Mr. Scruff'."

"Well, um…good work."

"I aim to please." She said before taking a drink.

Johnny took out his list and made another scribble.

 **Amber Membership: Active**

* * *

(Island of Patch, Xiao Long-Rose Family Home. Morning)

Yang went outside and shielded her eyes with her new robotic arm. Taiyang stood up from watering the plants with a smile spread across his face.

"Ok. Let's get started." He said.

"I think I should start getting used to this." She said, matching his smile. She looked at her prosthetic and quietly spoke to herself. "I've got a world to help save." She said with glowing orange eyes.


End file.
